johnmac's rants

Robots .. and the effect on jobs! -- a dialogue

2011-07-14T10:24:00.002-04:00

Some comments on the subject, in response to my original posting (contained at the end of this), from some very bright people

Bob Frankston (Bob is the co-developer of the first spreadsheet, “Visicalc”, and has been both a participant in and observer of the impact of technological development over the years)

It’s worth looking at the history of the sewing machine. Apparently (according to an article in the Smithsonian American Heritage of Invention and Technology – but I can’t find the original to properly site) the introduction of the sewing machine was delayed ten years while trying to address the impact on the labor market. Sewing was a job of last resort for women without work or other income. But it took many more years to develop the modern welfare system and it came with a stigma.

Trying to remove the stigma by creating make-work jobs doesn’t seem to be a wise solution since that increases the complexity of innovating. It’s not just the cost of hiring people but the complexities of management and other issues that arise when you are working against market forces. Do you really want to be forced to hire a chauffeur as an intermediary?

As a society we focus on self-worth coming from jobs and less so from intellectual pursuits or other kinds of accomplishments. We continue to stigmatize welfare and assume blame people for being lazy no matter how hard the pursue work.

All these technologies give us abundance so we can all be, in effect, wealthy (putting aside the ratcheting aspect of the concept of wealth) but are afraid to share any of what we have with others. There is an irony in that having a safety net encourages generative innovation by not only making it easier to take risks but also by avoiding the problems that come from comingling economic agendas with social agendas. Some comingling is fundamental but much of it is dysfunction, especially when we try to hide the true agenda.

I’m particularly sensitive to this because we’ve created an elaborate and expensive corporate welfare system called the telecommunications industry. Unfortunately the sheer complexity hides makes it seems as if we have a real marketplace when it’s just the opposite.

I don’t have the full answer. We can look back at some of the attempts to think about hyper automation in the 1950’s and 1960’s both for ideas and, perhaps, ease our concerns. But some of the changes are real.

We have a great opportunity here to get past the idea that value comes from isolated efforts and every contribution to society must be a profit center in itself – an idea just as extreme as one in which the state knows what’s best for us.

We need to synthesize a new approach. Perhaps one in which we have a basic level of safety rather than burdening employers with basic health and salary requirements. I don’t know if that is workable but I do know we need to rethink some of our basic societal assumptions, especially when they are based on a morality from another era.

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Esther Dyson (Esther is .. well, Esther … writer, entrepreneur, investor, conference host, pundit, oft-quoted …. etc.)

Imagine schools (including home schools) where each teacher works with fewer than 10 students at a time (and students mentor one another). Imagine hospitals and hospices where nurses have time to hold the patients' hands. Imagine millions of people with personal trainers. Imagine a swimming pool with enough lifeguards. imagine comments sections online that are moderated by intelligent editors. Imagine kids' portals that are safe.... Imagine support hotlines with people who know the answers to your questions.

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Jeanine Meyer (Dr. Meyer is a colleague at SUNY Purchase, ex-IBM researcher, and the author of multiple books)

The more immediate problem for the USA is that the jobs designing and producing the robots and other technologies may not be in the US. This appears to include green energy jobs. Sigh...... President Obama tried and is trying, but it is a struggle.

On one small issue: There certainly is a lot of room for improvement in health care, including how doctors operate. We have technology and medications that are being used without much care and resulting in greater costs but not that much improved health.

---------------------------------------------

William Hugh Murray (Bill is an industry veteran, a technology security consultant, and a keen observer of the impact of technology change. What follows is a long dialogue between us on the subject)

John, we should not measure jobs, but wealth and leisure.

We should shorten the work week back to 42 hours, perhaps even 35 like the Europeans.

We should tax consumption, not income, not labor, not savings and investment.

We should use benefits to ease the disruption to displaced workers.

We should educate people to live a life rather than to make a living.

This is exactly the same problem that we faced in the first half of the 20th Century when agricultural productivity sky-rocketed. We cut the work week from 72 hours to 42. It has gradually crept back up as more and more jobs have become "exempt."

Automating production is THE work of the 21st Century. Get with it or get over it.

When the robots do all the work, we will tell stories, paint pictures, make music and dance, and visit distant places in search of adventure, beauty, and truth.

Sent from my iPad

John F. McMullen

Absolutely --- so you and I agree -- and maybe 3 other people -- no one in government is addressing this.

William Hugh Murray

Yes, but this is the work of decades, not weeks or years. We have time to spread the essential ideas. I am not sure that in the thirties we were aware that the Wage and Hour Laws were a response to the tractor.

In any case, what economics decrees is inevitable. The best we can do is make it less disruptive than it might otherwise be.

Moreover, we are not he only ones carrying the water. Read Kurzweil, Ridley, and Flannery.

Far better to deal with the problems of increasing productivity than of poverty.

John McMullen

I do read Kurzweil and Ridley -- but I was referring to elected folks who keep talking about "when the economy improves" without seeming to understand that jobs lost to technology innovation or off-shoring are never coming back -- and that many of the displaced folks are too old or too uneducated (or not bright enough) to be re-trained for more intellectually demanding jobs

William Hugh Murray

Like everyone else, I am troubled by the political polarization that has resulted in stale-mate. I hope that this is prelude to, and perhaps necessary to, abandoning this 20th Century axis in favor of a 21st Century axis on which we can find common ground and new policies.

Part of me believes that in a global economy with powerful economic drivers, national policies become less and less relevant. We have already seen one powerful and influential policy framework, Communism, die of its own weight, to be replaced by something more productive and competitive. Both China and India have become far less protectionist and without too much social disruption. Our system must be at least as adaptive as theirs.

John McMullen

Well, if we don't do something with our educational system, foster a need to excel, and develop enough quality scientists and engineers to be competitive in the global world, it will be China that sets the culture as me move toward a unified world -- and we'll be saying "remember when we had unfettered free speech -- even if it could be construed as disruptive?"

William Hugh Murray

From: John McMullen
To: William Hugh Murray

Subject: Re: Robots -- Yes; Jobs -- No

I do read Kurzweil and Ridley --- but I was referring to elected folks who keep talking about "when the economy improves"

To the extent that we measure only jobs, we will not recognize improvement when we get it.

without seeming to understand that jobs lost to technology innovation or off-shoring are never coming back

I get tickled when I hear Ed Schulz talking about protecting manufacturing. He ought to watch “How its Made” n the Science Channel. Manufacturing is the last sector we should look to, if we are talking about jobs. Manufacturing output will continue to rise throughout the century while manufacturing employment continues to fall. The labor input to an automobile is 1/10th of what it was fifty years ago. On the other hand the design content is up a hundred fold.

I am not prepared to protect any job that I would not want my grandchildren to do. I do not want my grandchildren to make expensive underwear in North Carolina. I want them to sell textile mills to the Chinese and import cheap underwear from China.

-- and that many of the displaced folks are too old or too uneducated (or not bright enough) to be re-trained for more intellectually demanding jobs

Remember when the CIA started up north of Poughkeepsie? It was the only school of its kind in the country. Now every major city has a cooking school. St. Louis has two. There are now more high-end restaurants in New Orleans than there were before Katrinal. One can now advance to management at McDonalds or Wal-Mart faster than in almost any industry fifty years ago.

My godson learned to use numbers so that he could play Uno. He learned to spell by playing Ghost. He discovered Sim City at midnight and did not go to bed until dawn. At six he walked around the house juggling a ball with a lacrosse stick. It kept him in Amherst when he stopped playing football. He never saw a game he did not like. I tried to get him to go into coaching but he prefers playing finance: he is a VP at Fidelity and a Certified Financial Analyst. It does not pay as well as professional football or golf but it is a really fun game. He still uses the strategies he honed playing Monopoly.

I admit that some of the fun went out of chess when Deep Blue beat Gary Kasperov but we have raised a generation of children who love to pit themselves against the computer in games of skill.

Do not despair, John. It will be a bumpy ride but it will be a hell of a lot of fun.

Bill

Sent from my iPhone

Sent form my PC being operated from my iPad.

Are we having fun yet?

William Hugh Murray

From: John McMullen [mailto:johnmac13@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:35 PM

To: William Hugh Murray
Subject: Re: Robots -- Yes; Jobs -- No

Well, if we don't do something with our educational system, foster a need to excel, and develop enough quality scientists and engineers to be competitive in the global world,

We seem to have a bi-modal distribution of results from our educational system. The children of the elite are getting an outstanding education. They are disciplined, motivated, and excited. Others not so much. However, the correlation is to the success of one’s parents. (Not to infer causation.)

On the other hand, there appears to be little correlation between spending per pupil and results. Innovation seems to work better than money. http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/06/16/03games.h03.html

Higher education is one of the biggest export industries of New York, New Jersey, and New England. In Connecticut if ranks with war making and insurance.

I would use computers and other students to teach basic skills. We already have extensive, if only anecdotal evidence, that children can learn to read even before they can talk, and that computers are better at teaching four year-olds to read than schools are at teaching six year-olds to read.

I would separate tutelage from the granting of credentials (British system) for students and measure teachers on the success of their students at the next level and over the long term, rather than the performance of their students on standardized tests.

I would use standardized tests to identify excellence as well as failures. (Standardized tests kept me in school until I learned enough discipline to make good grades. )

it will be China that sets the culture as me move toward a unified world -- and we'll be saying "remember when we had unfettered free speech -- even if it could be construed as disruptive?"

Perhaps. However, the weight of history seems to be on our side. It is our culture that the world seems to emulate. It clearly rejected Nazism and Communism. The Arab Spring seems to suggest that other authoritarian cultures are not faring well. As China opens her borders to trade and travel, she is more likely to become more like her trading partners than the other way around. Chinese(?) and Spanish may be spoken by more people than English but English is the most widely spoken second language, even though it is much more difficult to learn than either Mandarin or Spanish

I am a humanist and a citizen of the world, not a nationalist, not a “patriot.” in all my travels, I have yet to see a culture that I did not admire. I am a free-trader. I believe that trade enriches all. Protectionism is an attempt to enrich oneself at the expense of one’s neighbor. Nice people do not do that.

I believe that war is an attempt to level inequities among nations but that it does not work nearly so well as trade. In war the “haves’” tend to win and the inequities get worse, not better.

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Original posting:

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 10:14 AM, John F. McMullen wrote:

(johnmac -- Some folks (including me) have been saying this for a while -- but no one listens -- or, at least, plans -- and we are running out of time)
From the Fiscal Times and posted by Randall on my list --

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/12/The-Robot-Revolution-Your-Job-May-Be-Next.aspx?p=1
The Robot Revolution: Your Job May Be Next

By BLAIRE BRIODY, The Fiscal Times July 12, 2011

Without a doubt, America has reached the age of the robot. In the past few
years, hundreds of robotic breakthroughs have made headlines: unmanned
planes, bots in space, dancing robots, self-driving cars, a Jeopardy-playing
robot. Now, the President wants even more.

Last month Obama announced the National Robotic Initiative, a commitment to
invest $70 million in next-generation robotics that will allow "factory
works, health care providers, soldiers, surgeons and astronauts to carry out
hard-to-do tasks." And they have already done some pretty heavy lifting: It
took a robot to finally cap the BP well that spilled millions of crude into
the Gulf. And only a robot could enter Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant to check radiation levels.

As useful and exciting as these new generation machines are, Obama might not
see the hole robots are digging for us: They're rapidly evolving to take over
hundreds of thousands of human jobs, according to Martin Ford, author of The
Lights In the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of
the Future. Ford believes a massive job crisis is inevitable even before we
have time to catch our breath and recover from the current economic crisis.
In an interview with The Fiscal Times, Ford discusses why no one's job is
safe, why jobs lost in the recession are never coming back, and what, if
anything, we can do about the robot revolution.

The Fiscal Times (TFT): You say that robots are poised to take over the
low-wage jobs of cashiers, fast-food workers , office assistants, and even
some high-wage jobs like radiologists.

Martin Ford (MF): Machines and computers are getting better at an accelerated
rate, and I think within maybe 5 to 10 years things are going to get to the
level where machines begin to surpass the ability of most people to do
routine work. I base this partly on my belief that most of the work out there
in the economy is routine in nature. There aren't that many people that are
paid to think creative thoughts.

TFT: But haven't people been talking about automation for years? Why hasn't
it happened yet?

MF: The technology just hasn't been there. It's not about building the robot
arm, it's about controlling the robot arm; it's about how to make the machine
think and we're just getting to that point now. It's the first time we've had
this level of technology that allows machines to solve problems on their own,
to interact with their environment, to analyze visual imagines, and to
manipulate their environment based on that.

TFT: The common argument is that technology advances society and creates
jobs. Are you saying it no longer will?

MF: So far, advances in technology have allowed us to become more prosperous
and push economic growth, but the reason it's made workers more productive is
because machines and computers have been tools. At some point, we're going to
get to where machines stop being tools to be used by workers and they become
workers in their own right. Without an income, people can't participate in
the economy. Alan Blinder, an economist at Princeton, has been talking about
how productivity increases in the economy are no longer transmitted to
workers in the form of wages. Nowadays when we see productivity increases,
[the financial benefit] ends up at the top; it goes to the CEO, to the
shareholders, but workers don't get any of it. It's hard to have more
prosperity under this system because as workers start to lose jobs and see
lower wages, they can't participate in the economy as consumers.

TFT: How might you re-wire the economy to adjust to this?

MF: If it's at a point where there aren't enough jobs or if those jobs don't
provide enough income for people to cover their basic expenses, I think you
have to have some form of progressive taxation and redistribution. Right now,
we're moving in the opposite direction, we're talking about austerity, it
looks like we're going to destroy the few safety nets that we have for
working people, and I honestly think it's a disastrous move. The current
situation we're in could really drag on and while we're waiting for the job
market to recover, these technologies are going to continue to accelerate and
it'll be more difficult to get these jobs back. It will be like running up
the down escalator. Economist David Autor has come to the conclusion that the
middle-range jobs that used to support a solid middle-class lifestyle are
pretty much gone.

TFT: Which middle-range jobs?

MF: Secretaries, administrative assistants, mid-range office jobs. If you're
anyone other than the CEO you no longer have a secretary, you have a
computer. That type of job has already been eliminated. Jobs that involve
sitting at a computer are more susceptible to automation because they can be
automated with software, you don't need robots. There is now software that
automates going through reams of documents and figuring out which ones are
important for a court case, something that used to be for lawyers and
paralegals. The first litmus test is 'Is it a boring job? Is it repetitive
and tedious and boring even though you need lots of training?' If so, it's
probably going to be one of the first jobs to be hit.

TFT: How can job creation happen? Do you think we'll ever get back to low
unemployment?

MF: I hope so, but technology is not going to stop getting better. There are
certain jobs that are going to be hard to automate, like being a plumber,
electrician, or a mechanic, but new technology-based jobs don't have a long
history. They can be replaced by something else or eliminated entirely.
Data-entry clerks and IT jobs are getting automated and outsourced. The idea
that the jobs of the future will be in computers is becoming less true.
Increasingly you'll see a winner-takes-all phenomenon where there's a demand
for top people, those who graduate from MIT or something, but broad-based
employment is getting a lot tougher. It's hard to know where the job creation
is going to come from.

TFT: What robot has affected the most jobs so far?

MF: The first enormous impact was when agriculture mechanized -- millions and
millions of jobs were lost. Most of those people shifted to another sector,
primarily manufacturing, and economists will argue that when you automate one
place, another sector will arise, and that's historically true, but it's not
easy: millions of people suffer and lose income. After manufacturing, we
became a service economy. Now the service sector is clearly going to be
automated, but what sector will rise up next? People talk about health care
but that's really just a section of the service sector. Certain groups like
nurses and doctors will be fairly well protected but going forward even those
areas are at risk. A lot of what doctors can do in terms of diagnosis can be
done by automation.

Look at the companies you can think of that have come to prominence in the
last 10 years: Google, Facebook, Netflix, twitter – they're all
technology-intensive companies that hire people who are highly skilled, but
don't create jobs for average people.

There are a few labor-intensive parts of the economy left – big retailers,
restaurants, hotels –but what happens when fast-food begins to automate? What
happens when companies like Wal-Mart begin to use robots to stock shelves?
Then that labor-intensive part of the economy begins to look more like Google
– it becomes more technology intensive. It's hard to imagine in the future
they'll be some new industry that will have to hire lots of average people.
Maybe there could be hope in green energy like installing solar panels, but
only for a limited amount of time. Infrastructure is not a self-sustaining
job. In terms of new industries, they're all going to be technology
intensive, not industries that employ lots of people. That's going to be a
real problem and I don't see how we get around it.

TFT: But don't some jobs need a human touch? Such as a salesperson?

MF: In certain areas, yes. I actually always think there will always be sales
jobs. A social worker, for one, requires human-type interaction, but the
question is, can we put everyone in those jobs? Are there enough of those
jobs for everyone? There aren't. If you figure 60 percent of the jobs out
there are routine jobs where people do the same kind of things subject to
automation, and you have a minority of jobs that are uniquely human than
there is going to be a secondary impact. In the government sector, the social
worker is likely to be gone because the government can't afford the social
worker. We see that in schools, counselors are getting cut because they can't
afford them. They can't be automated, but they're getting cut because of
what's happening on the revenue side.

TFT: How about the risks involved with automation? Powerful computers and
high-frequency trading on Wall St. is one reason among many that could prompt
a market crisis. Will there be more risks like that in the future?

MF: It's possible -- you'll see more trading get automated and happening at
these incomprehensible rates and no one knows what's going on; it's a bunch
of computers autonomously doing things. Last year, the market had that flash
crash and it took months to really analyze it and I don't know if they can
agree on what happened, but it will create a danger in markets.

TFT: So what do we do about it?

MF: If we do nothing, that would result in social instability; you'll have
people living in tent cities, losing their homes, even worse than now. That's
the path to disaster. What I suggested in the book is [to] get the government
involved in providing an income with what I consider to be a market-based
approach because you're doing taxation and redistribution, you're giving
people some kind of an income but they're still participating in the market
as consumers. There isn't a solution where everything will be OK – but we
have to do something. I want lots of people, including economists, to be
thinking more about this issue because right now they're very dismissive of
it and they don't see it as a problem and I think it deserves more attention.
If in fact so many of the ideas that I'm suggesting turn out to be correct
and we run into a problem, at least people will have thought about it.

Let's See If I Have This Right

2011-07-13T09:34:00.002-04:00

Our elected representatives of both parties are going to hold hostage payments of millions of Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans payments to American citizens while they try to agree how and how much these programs should be cut.

.... and these are our representatives??

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

2011-07-12T20:49:00.006-04:00

I received this from an old friend and, while I think the idea has real merit, I think it has no chance of passing because both Houses of Congress must pass the proposed amendment before it goes to the states and this will not make it through Congress

BUT

If enough people endorse it, get it to the press, and circulate it through the net, there may be such a message sent to our elected officials that they will straighten out their act. Not one of them is unemployed; they all get an outrageous pension; and many slide in right into lobbyist jobs when they leave office -- and, no matter what their party or political philosophy, they got us into this mess -- so think about it!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Received Message:

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests"
- Patrick Henry.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months, 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it.

That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure. I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no congressional related pay or benefits when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, in which Congress will participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans may do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise in conjunction with the CPI or 3%, whichever is lower.

5. Congress loses their current health are system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must themselves be subject to and abide by all laws they impose on the American people, without exception.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.

The American people did not make these contracts with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our's should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe the time has come.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above,
pass it on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20+. Please keep it
going.
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johnmac -- obviously people aren't happy!

"Entitlements, my ass!"

2011-07-12T09:27:00.002-04:00

Preamble -- My rant was brought on by receiving the rant entitled "Entitlements, my ass!" passed on by Rich Scarlata (not a flaming socialist radical but, rather, the ex-president of a major NYC firm; I don't consider myself one either -- I was a long term Wall Street management / technologist, then an entrepreneur / consultant, and now an academic)

"Entitlements" has become a pejorative term. It was not intended to be and should not be. What it simply means in this context is that if you fall into the class defined in the legislation (ex-- Medicare: 65 or over), you are entitled to the benefits described in the legislation -- you do not have to do anything extra -- join the Army, move to Mississippi, etc. -- and you can't be excluded for other reasons. You fit the criteria -- US Citizen and over 65 -- so, under the terms of the legislation passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by the President of the United States, you’re entitled to whatever the legislation prescribes.

It's become a negative term -- "What are you -- Entitled??" The correct answer are the words of the late great Peter Boyle in the movie "Joe" -- "Fucking A".

The writer of the rant is certainly correct in his rage. We are being sold out for
political expediency by a President willing to compromise for the sake of expediency with a group that for ideological and philosophical reasons has always wanted to kills these "socialistic programs" (their terms, not mine).I disagree totally with the Paul Ryan proposed budget but, at least, it shows a commitment to a set of principles (albeit ones that I disagree with). The President's statements and the rumors about the cuts he would agree to leave me feeling that he "is committed to being President" -- and that is not why he was elected, He was, as was John Kennedy, elected to bring real change to the polices of the previous Administration (although, in retrospect, most now see Eisenhower as a much better president than he was given credit for; I doubt that GWB will have a similar revisionist look) Note that the problem has never been presented as "how do we insure proper funding for Social Security and Medicare?" but always "How do we fix them?"

How about starting by taking off the cap totally on deductions. For the high-end salaries? -- as the income disparity gets greater, there will be more and more folks in that class and people making over $100,000 are not going to stop working because the Social Security withholding tax doesn't stop.

The American Catholic Bishops issued a statement earlier this year saying to the effect "it is immoral to balance the budget on the backs of the poor". It is also wrong to use the "budget crisis" as an excuse to gut social programs always hated by the far right.

It is really time to raise an apathetic public to protect its way of life -- and I don't see a public figure with the persona or the courage to do so. Our only focus cannot be on the debt / deficit. We must properly invest in education and research in a way that will turn out scientists and engineers to make competitive with the hoard of the same being educated in China and India. We must address the long range problem of "unemployables" --people phased out of work by technological improvement or off-shoring (no matter how the economy improves, these jobs aren't coming back) -- some, if not many, of these folks are too old to be hired (no matter what the law says) or too uneducated or unintelligent to deal with the demanding new jobs available -- what do we do with them folks? What is the plan? -- at the moment, it is None!

We need a leaner more-lean and efficient government -- but not one that walks away from the safety net needed for an increasingly disrupted population.

Now back to the originally scheduled program

-----------------------

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Richard M. Scarlata"

Subject: "Entitlements," my ass!

I have always despised that term. When did it become part of the lingo? It had to have been constructed by the “governing class”.

Richard M. Scarlata

-----------------------------
From: J Sedlock

Begin forwarded message:

Entitlement???"

What the hell is wrong here?

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only 30K over your working life, that’s close to $220,500. If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working (me) you'd have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years, and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever had.

Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!! Congressional benefits, aka. free health care, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my retirement entitlements!!!!!!

..... Scroll down..............

Emergency Rooms for their general health care -At just one hospital the cost to tax payers totaled over 25 million a year!!!

Someone please tell me what the HELL's wrong with all the people that run this country!!!!!!

We're "broke" & can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless etc.,

In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey. And now Pakistan home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Billions of $$$$$$'s and Tons of Food to Foreign Countries!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when its time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?

We have hundreds of adoptable children who are shoved aside to make room for the adoption of foreign orphans.

AMERICA: a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed hungry, elderly going without 'needed' meds, and mentally ill without treatment -etc, etc.

YET......................
They have a ‘Benefit’ for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies.

Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries.

SAD?

YEAH, OK, SO WHEN DO WE GET PISSED AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT???

Asking for Input

2011-06-08T17:45:00.002-04:00

From Barbara McMullen:

Looking for input..

John and I are giving a presentation at Iona College in two weeks entitled "Global Applization: The Impact of Mobile Apps on Global Business Practices and Processes." And, yes, the word "Applization" is our creation.

We are looking for some specific information on enterprise mobile apps being developed by enterprises or third-parties for enterprises. We are interested in their purpose, audience (employees, vendors/suppliers, customers), the mobile platform, distribution, and any other significant fact about them (are they mashups, include location processing, are they social?).

Any thoughts you have on the impact of mobile apps on a globalized businesses and markets are also appreciated; how they impact competition, remove borders and barriers to international trade and business, for instance.

Thank you for your input.

Barbara

Posted by Barbara E. McMullen at 2:20 PM 0 comments
------------------------
Please forward comments to johnmac13@gmail.com

Thanks,
John

Fala's Blog 2

2011-05-23T22:43:00.002-04:00

The last two days, in fact all of what my attendants have called "a Falaction", have been hectic. The nice people who owned the motel we stayed in are the caretakers of a great Yorkshire Terrier named "Ben" and we got along very well. I explained to him that my breed, the Silky Terrier, was actually a cross breed between Australian Terriers and Yorkies. I promised Ben when we left that I would write and that I would bring my attendants back next year.

I also met a tiny dog named "Flynn" who was also staying at the motel -- I'm small -- just under 10 lbs. -- but he was ridiculous -- 5 lbs. -- and he barked! -- but he was neat too and I hope to see him again also.

Yesterday, I went to see two ShihTzus, "Verdell" and "Mika" that are in charge of an old friend of my female attendant -- they are both older and bigger than me and I was reluctant to play with them until my male attendant came to pick me up -- then, knowing that he would protect me, I played for a while.

He then took me to visit another friend -- coincidentally the two-time ex-husband of the woman I just met; these humans do funny things! This friend was taking care of his daughter's very big Lab, named "Bosun". When Bosun came over to meet me, I immediately established the pecking order by chasing him. He turned out to be a big teddy bear and I watched him jump in the river and swim and then later into the pool (I might have joined him but my attendant had me on a leash, trying to protect me from getting hurt, I imagine.

So, today, with a tear, I bid goodbye to Ben and started home -- we stopped at two rest stops and neither were crazy about me entering them. I think the Civil Rights Bill should have included dogs; this prejudice is very tough to take. I heard on the radio on the way home that the "Equal Rights Amendment" is about to be introduced again -- I will instruct my handlers only to support it if dogs are included in the new language.

Then it was home to the six weird dogs who live with us -- my attendants call then cats -- we tend to ignore each other. I'll talk to them -- but I miss Ben!.

Fala's Blog

2011-05-21T22:21:00.002-04:00

I have not been blogging for a good while -- most of my opinion pieces have been posted on Facebook and / or my Mailing lists while a new course at Purchase College ("Communicating Quantitative Information") and a volunteer course in Marist College's Lifetime Learning Program ("The History of Computing -- From Blaise Pascal to the iPad2") have kept me very busy.

The most significant time sink in my life, however, has been my 2 1/2 year-old Silky Terrier, Fala, a May 1, 2010 addition to the family. She has been a total delight but has taken more time (walking, feeding, planning for, and arranging for dog-sitting) than I had imagined -- and much of the time expended on her behalf has come from my previous writing and reading time.

Recognizing the impact that she has made, Fala has offered to do an occasional blog entry here when something of interest to her occurred and the following is her first entry.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Westy's -- An Irish Pub in North Wildwood, NJ
by Fala D. McMullen

Tonight, my attendants took me to my first restaurant, Westy's in North Wildwood, NJ. It was a very exciting experience for me, one which I hope was simply the first of many.

For some reason, restaurants are funny about dogs as clientele -- something about Heath Regulations -- but I think that dogs are generally cleaner and better behaved than many of the folks I see going into and, especially, coming out of bars and restaurants. Since Westy's has an out-door section and we just went in and sat down, no one bothered us and I was able to enjoy my first meal as a consumer of restaurant food and an overall critic of the experience.

The service was exceptional although the very nice red-headed waitress seemed almost to be pretending that I wasn't there. She spoke nicely to my attendants, however, and took the orders pleasantly enough (although she never asked if I wanted dessert, she did give extra napkins to my female attendant and winked at her).

I skipped the appetizer and my appetite was really building by the time my well done hamburger (served without a bun or vegetables) arrived -- but it was well worth the wait. My male attendant broke it up into bite-size pieces and put it in front of me on a napkin (He has worked out well and I will keep him on staff). It was so delectable that I ate the whole thing -- I had been concerned when it came; it appeared to be a half pound and I weigh less than 10 lbs so it looked like a lot to eat (I did take my attendants for a long run on the beach after dinner as a digestion aid; the male was moaning about his basketball ankle and I will have to put him on an exercise regime).

All in all, I give Westy's Five Barks and recommend it highly.

Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?

2010-12-11T15:08:00.003-05:00

An article in PC World, "Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?", portends a possible commercial revolution brought on by the US government's assault on WikiLeaks.

Virtual currency works in Second Life (where millions of US dollars have been exchanged weekly) and other virtual worlds -- why not through the entire net? The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) accepts donations though Bitcoin I would like to see EFF actively promoting the use of the service (A list of sites currently accepting Bitcoin as payment is available at http://www.bitcoin.org/trade).

If this service or even concept takes off, MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal may come to rue the day that they caved to to the Joe Liebermans. It could also be an early, very early, step toward a universal currency

"Officer Joe"

2010-12-11T14:23:00.002-05:00

It seems to me, from my understanding of the Constitution, that the role of a federal legislator (Senator or Representative) is to draft legislation, after appropriate research; vote on that legislation and others; conference with other legislators and members of the executive branch, etc. -- all activities related to the legislative process.

Yet, from all accounts, it was Senator Joseph Lieberman (I, CT) and / or members of his staff that coerced Amazon into dropping WikiLeaks as a client; an action that, once again from my understanding would be the purview of the Executive Branch -- President, DOJ, FBI, etc. -- and would only happen if WikiLeaks was engaged in demonstrably illegal behavior through the use of Amazon's site.

It appears to me that Lieberman's actions are quite similar to those of the late Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R, WI) when he attempted to put pressure on foreign governments in relation to commerce with Communist governments (particularly China which we did not recognize at the time)/ McCarthy was rightly slapped down both by the White House and his own party members for abrogating the authority of the Executive Branch (in that case, the State Department).

Where is the outcry about Officer Joe's actions?

Notre Dame 27, Army 3

2010-11-23T15:36:00.004-05:00

.. and .. after a good while we begin to catch up ...

The Notre Dame / Army game returned to its most famous venue, Yankee Stadium, last Saturday, becoming the first football game in the new Yankee Stadium. New York City was the site of the October 18, 1924 game from which came some of the most famous lines in sports journalism history as Grantland Rive penned:

"Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.

"In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."

New York was also the scene of the 1946 game, considered one of the classic games of the century. From Wikipedia:

The 1946 Army vs. Notre Dame football game was a regular season college football game played on November 9, 1946. Army (the football program of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York), then ranked Number 1 in the Associated Press college football poll, played the University of Notre Dame, of South Bend, Indiana, ranked Number 2, at Yankee Stadium in New York City.[1] This game is regarded as one of the 20th century Games of the Century.[2]

That game ended in a 0-0 tie; the tie saved by a touchdown saving tackle made by 1947 Heisman Trophy winner Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack on 1945 Heisman winner Felix "Doc" Blanchard (Lujack, an All-American Quarterback and a later star with the Chicago Bears, was also an outstanding defensive back). Two other Heisman winners played in the game -- 1945 Winner Army's Glenn Davis and 1948 Notre Dame wunner Leon Hart.

New York City has long been the home of the famous "Subway Alumni", a term applied to the great following that Notre Dame has is the city, initially die to the large concentration of Irish and Irish-Americans in NYC, and, as such, the hoopla around the games took precedence over the game itself (as long as Notre Dame won). On the day before the game, there was a a marching band concert in Times Square followed by a pep rally staged at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. At the game itself, Lujack and Army's 1948 Heisman winner (and Rhodes Scholar) Peter Dawkins were the honorary captains for the coin toss and the band play and the marching was spectacular.

I grew up as a Johnny Lujack and Notre Dame fan and this weekend brought me back to those, reminding me that even when Columbia (1934 Rose Bowl Winner), Fordham ("Seven Blocks of Granite") and NYU (All American and later NFL and AAC star Ken Strong) had quality programs, Notre Dame had the biggest college football fan base in New York -- and it still does!

GG Farber (wife of Dave Farber) passes away

2010-06-25T09:08:00.001-04:00

GG Farber, the wife of Internet pioneer and really fine person Dave Farber, passed away last night. Condolence notes may be sent to dave@Farber.net. Dave, in addition to being a faculty member at Penn and, more recently, at Carnegie Mellon is the moderator of the influential and interesting "IP" mailing list (with thousands of members), and has served as an advisor to government and business. I was lucky enough to work with Dave on some conferences and panels over the years and always enjoyed his company, his dedication, and friendship. My heart and that of many, many others goes out to him.

Sent from my iPad

Fala

2010-05-02T21:59:00.002-04:00

Yesterday (May Day), I picked up Fala, the Silky Terrier, that I had been selected as an adopter by a South Carolina rescue service -- I say "selected" because the adoption process is more involved than applying for an Ivy League College (The selecting outfit actually checked out my property on Google Earth).

Fala (my name -- she was Desiree before joining my household) was brought up with other dogs to a shelter in Wayne, New Jersey (the flood capital of the northeast) and we, Jim Casey (who was nice enough to accompany me) and I picked her up there. I was properly prepared for the journey with a pet carrier, a leash, and a bowl for water when we stopped along the way -- and the whole adventure went without incident.

The ease of the trip carried over for the last two days, Barbara had two concerns about acquiring Fala:
1. that she would bark incessantly -- as a matter of fact, she has NEVER barked.
2. that he arrival would cause chaos with our existing cat population -- there has been NO problem to date.

I had my last full-time dog over fifty years ago; it broke my five-year old heart when we had to give it away because of my just discovered major allergy. I brought home dogs after that over the years but would get sick and have to get rid of them and exposure to other people's dog, at times, out me in the ER of local hospitals. The Silky Terrier is supposed to be non-allergenic and, to date, I have had no problem.

Lying on the grass with Fala on my property has led me to appreciate the environment through her one year old eyes -- the height and majesty of the trees, the song of the birds in the trees, the noise of the wind passing through the branches and leaves -- the wonder and beauty of nature that has always been here but has, until now, tuned out as noise.I hope that I continue to be as attuned to this beauty as we move along.

I found Fala through the Web and made all arrangements for her adoption (including a PayPal payment of $325) through the net. I documented the process through Facebook and Twitter and journalled the pickup trip using Gowalla and Foursquare and am blogging about it now. In short, Web 2.0 technology combined with nature and a wonderful dog has made me a very happy person.

Two Weeks with the iPad

2010-04-19T20:52:00.002-04:00

I got the iPad two weeks ago and very rapidly have become dependent on it. I use it for e-mail, Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), web browsing, word processing (this is being written on it at my local Barnes and Noble), newspaper reading, video watching, book reading and a myriad of other activities.

The dependency is interesting. Andy Clark in his 2003 "Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence", points out that we are all (or at least most of us) "Cyborgs" as humans, unlike any other species, make our technology "a part of ourselves". If we lose a cell phone or even leave it home, it is as though someone has cut off a finger. It is extremely easy to become dependent on a technology tool and I admit to a new-found dependency on the iPad.

I am a newspaper junkie and always bought at least four New York papers (Times, Wall Street Journal, Daily News, and Post) a day and, when I travel, all of the local papers from wherever I am. Since I brought the iPad home, I have not bought a daily New York Times (I do buy the Sunday paper) nor a Wall Street Journal (and only one Post to read a sports column). Not only do I read those papers on the iPad, I also browse the Associated Press, the Financial Times, USA Today, and papers from Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, London and Dublin. Additionally, I have access to audio and videos from NPR, PRI, Pacifica, local Radio Stations, PBS, CNN, & MSNBC.

Additionally, I have access to the few hundred books in my Kindle library and almost 24,000 Free Books. I can purchase additional books through either my Kindle account or my iTunes account.

The ability to access all of this material rests on "apps", free and commercial, that may be downloaded directly to the iPad. I presently have one hundred sixty-four apps above that which came with the iPad -- apps for the above gathering of information and for e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation graphics, weather, statistics, instant messaging, drawing, painting, and various other activities. Most of these apps were free or cost .99; the word processing program ("Pages" from Apple), spreadsheet ("Numbers" also from Apple) and presentation graphics ("Keynote", likewise from Apple) were the most expensive at $9.99. Many of the apps installed were written specifically for the iPad but others are iPhone apps that work perfectly. New apps appear daily as developers try to establish presence on the platform.

The e-mail hooks directly into my G-Mail account -- one may do this by either downloading the app from Google or by simply directing the built-in "Mail" app to your e-mail account.

The word processing is particularly nice. I write a document and, when ready for final editing, printing, and or submission, e-mail it to myself in MS-Word format (the conversion and e-mailing are features in "Pages"). Additionally, I can e-mail am MS-Word document to myself as an attachment from my WINTEL machine or Mac and, when I open the attachment, I can read it and then choose to open it in either "Pages" or "GoodReader".

I chose the WiFi-only version, deciding that I would rather spend the money to have the 64GB largest version that to spend it on AT&T 3G connection, reasoning that I already have a cell phone and that where I would work on the iPad (home, book store, restaurants, and hotels) will have WiFi. I also purchased a few accessories -- a case with a screen protector that doubles as a stand, Apple's Bluetooth Keyboard, a stylist for drawing, a car adapter, and extra power connection, and a small bag to handle the iPad and accessories (small enough to fit in the storage space on my motor scooter). I use the Bluetooth Keyboard (under $75) when doing real word processing (articles, short stories, poems, etc.) and the on-screen "glass keyboard" when doing most e-mail, web browsing, and social networking.

The only negatives that I've come across -- and they haven't impacted me in what I do -- have been:

• The strength of the WiFi does not seem to be as powerful as that on my iTouch (but not noticeably worse that on my netbook). When coupled with the vagaries of my AT&T connection at my local Barnes & Noble, this leads to me both taking longer to connect than I'm pleased with and having to re-connect more frequently. Although these problems seem to have more to do with Barnes and Noble than the iPad (and the bookstore is aware of connectivity problems), Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe", has mentioned WiFi problems with his unit (while still praising it overall).

• While "Pages" exports documents to the comparable Microsoft Office format, "Numbers" and "Keynote" do not. They do, however, export "PDF" files which can be read into any system (but not modified by most). We are told that updates to these programs will add the suitable "Excel" and "Power Point" conversion capabilities.

Neither of these negatives has really posed any problems for me -- but I have a friend who uses Excel regularly and sees this as a major problem.

In closing, the iPad is, as we said in my Wall Street days, a "BUY"

More on the "Catholic Crisis"

2010-04-01T17:58:00.002-04:00

After reading my recent posting, a reader wrote to say that, while he agreed generally with my commentary about the abuse and cover-up scandal, the only way to address the problem is a mass exodus or boycott of the church. When I demurred saying that people who believe that it is "the true (or least the "truest") religion must work from within, he said that, by remaining within, I am "supporting a criminal enterprise". He further intimated that I was naive, thinking that the "one true church" happened to be on my street (actually it was two blocks east of my street).

Here the reader and I differ because, while I agree generally with with Kata Pollitt's article "Papal Indulgences", the Catholic Church for me is not simply the organized institutional church that was responsible for these cover-ups (I gave up on these guys long before these scandals); it's the church of my old Paulist friend, the late George Hagamier, Dorothy Day, Hans Kung, Thomas Merton, Andrew Greeley, Dan Berrigan, and the present and recent pastors at my parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Shrub Oak, NY. -- and, when I sent this litany to a friend of mine (The Chair of Medieval Studies at a major university), he correctly added to my list: Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Descartes, Graham Greene, and tens of millions of good people poor (Haiti) and rich (here) etc., etc. If Catholics really believe in the theological concept of "The Mystical Body of Christ", they see all these folks. past and present, as the members of the body -- and the current members .. these "good people" mentioned above should drive out those who are more concerned with "scandal" and protecting reputation (and the silliness of ring kissing and extraordinary pomp) just as Christ drove out the money changers.

I think that it can be reformed from within -- but there must be constant pressure and demand for transparency. It is awful that the transgressions of a small number of transgressor have caused a pale to fall on thousands of devoted clerics; it's far worse that an institution in existence to "serve God" has attempted to cover up the transitions and has been insensitive to many victims; and it's disgraceful that Bill Donohue of the "Catholic League" (which does not represent any official Catholic entity and, for all I know is just Bill and a few friends) tries to cast aspirations on Homosexuals as the major players in the molestation of any over 13 (flash to Bill -- homosexuals are no more apt to be molesters than heterosexuals are apt to be rapists).

The church as an institution must commit to the following and publicly follow through on the items:

o Admit the problem

o Turn all accusations over to local law enforcement groups for the same actions that would happen if the accused were a doctor, law teacher, politician, or machinist.

o Retire any officials who, no matter how well intentioned, tried to cover-up, "sweep under the rug" or require promises of secrecy from victims in return for compensation.

o Adopt all the new procedures and safeguards enumerated by the Pope in his letter to Ireland (these measures are fine for going forward but will be ridiculed if suitable action is not taken to attempt to rectify the previous transgressions)

Put Your Head In The Sand ... and Pray

2010-03-31T13:36:00.002-04:00

When I sent some columns out by people commenting on the current problems in the Catholic Church, I got one response that said, in part, "Please stop sending me the articles you compiled regarding the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. It’s not that I am not interested or in denial about it, quite the opposite actually, I pray about it every day for the victims, for the perpetrators, for a fair and thorough investigation, for justice, for the Church, and most of all that it never happens again. I care little about the anti-Catholic pundits’ skewed view on the scandal, and their continued attacks on the Church as a whole as a result of the evil of individuals, as if this is unique to the Church—the fact is statistics show that most incidences of sexual abuse are committed by family members, and the rates are higher in other churches, public schools and child-care agencies than the Catholic Church."

My response:

You're absolutely right about the incidents of priests' untoward actions being no greater -- even less than other walks of life, even within families (although in the case of the 250 children, one parent never reaches that many) -- but the greater problem was the cover-ups and the insensitivity to the victims. As I have told other people, the cover-ups were understandable, although not excusable, in the 1940s and 50s when organizations were more concerned about "scandal" and reputation of the organization than they were about individuals and ... about right and wrong. We had the "Blue Wall of Silence" in NYPD, coverups in all sorts of organizations ... and in the Catholic Church. One only has to read one of Andrew Greeley's bios to see the cover-ups in Cardinal Cody's Chicago diocese or read about Frank Serpico's treatment by NYPD to know that this is true -- and that mentality, the mentality of "shoving things under the rug", was wrong.

Additionally, the Catholic Church is different from other organizations and even other religions. A Francisican pointed out to me about two weeks ago that one never hears of a "Cafeteria Methodist" or an ex-Baptist. Even non-believers who grew up in the "Catholic tradition" still maintain some aspect of "Catholicity".

With this position, there is a higher standard to maintain as well as a greater target for attack. I'm sure that many of those involved in cover-ups had the best intentions, just as NYPD brass did, to protect the image of the organization -- but they were wrong -- and now, in my judgement, they must be weeded out and dismissed from powers of authority, allowed to retire or sent to monasteries -- not given $100,000 positions like Bernard Cardinal Law, That is the only way to now not only to protect the image but purify it -- and, until this happens, it seems to me that those who care about the Church should be joining the "anti-Catholic pundits" you refer to in keeping this in the public image -- until any Irish Bishop or Vatican official or US Cardinal who participated in any way in a cover up (whether with good intention or not) is removed from a position of authority. While the prayers you mention may certainly help, public outcry is at least equally important.

WHR U AT?

2010-03-27T01:00:00.005-04:00

From the current Web 2.0 The Magazine -- http://www.web2themag.com/index_files/TopStory.htm

WHR U AT? BY JOHN F. MCMULLEN

In the early days of Twitter, many folks were turned off when they read of the many inane comments (such as “I just had a peanut and jelly sandwich” or “My new next door neighbor is so hot” or “I just bought great red shoes”) – items of a personal nature of little interest to most folks -- and refused to try it. Unfortunately, I have a number of friends for whom that description fits. They did not understand that it was up to them to choose which Twitterers that they “followed;” in other words, they did not have to follow any one who only “tweeted” personal doings.

It was only when the serious users, such as newscasters, technology professionals, government agencies, and others of that type, began to use Twitter that the system became useful for all.

Now we have come full circle. A number of programs and apps have been introduced that are aimed at the “Where Are You?” (or, as the “texters” write, “Whr U At?”) and “What Are You Doing?”) questions -- and they seem to be attracting scads of users. These programs, unlike the free-form tweets, focus the writer on places of interest in her / his area – restaurants, parks, movies, museums, sports arenas, etc. – and encourage the writer to comment on the quality of the food, movie, performance, etc. Using the GPS function of the iPhone or Android system, the system lists the places of interest which the system is aware of – and the menus in the systems that I have used are remarkably complete for Jefferson Valley, New York; the user may also add items to the menu (I have added “MCM Plaza,” my home and office, and a local pizza parlor to mine). The user selects a location and may add a comment about what he or she is doing before “checking in.” Once the user checks in, the entry is viewable by all those who have chosen to ” follow” or “friend” the user.

The two applications that have gotten the most press in this arena are “Foursquare” and “Gowalla.” Each of these applications have versions for the iPhone, Android system, and web versions, accessible through Wintel, Macintosh, and Linux systems (I am johnmac13 on both Foursquare and Gowalla). I find the applications to be substantially equal on content and functionality (with Gowalla having the edge on appearance and color).

The significant difference between the systems will not be in the functionality but, rather, in the user community, both its size and make-up. The more people (and the more interesting people) using one of these competing products should result in its continued and growing advantage. Foursquare was the first of these products that I was aware of but, Gowalla seems to have vaulted ahead due to its big splash at the recent “South by Southwest Music and Media Conference” (“SXSW”).

Both of these products, if adopted by many, bring us to a new level of transparency and openness in our Web 2.0 world; a level that some regard as a further erosion of privacy.

Let me know “Whr U At?”

-----------------------------

My recent post on Foursquare:

@ Barnes & Noble: The New England Clam Chowder on Fridays in the Cafe area (coffee by Starbucks) is excellent. There is also an outlet (for plug-in) in the ceiling by over the right window in the café

My recent post on Gowalla:
(graphic)

McM Plaza
250 year-old barn

John F McMullen
Jefferson Valley, NY
A writing day

Watching The Knicks Is Difficult

2010-03-22T16:51:00.002-04:00

(Note -- This was written a week ago. Since then the Knicks have had one good game and one poor one -- In the first, Toney Douglas was the hero; in the second, the goat -- even though he scored twenty-six points.)

I watched the Boston Celtics annihilate the New York Knickerbockers tonight. While the final score of 109-97 may give people reading the box score tomorrow morning the impression that it was a close game, it was far from that. The Celtics led by as many as 24 during the game and the score was only narrowed during “garbage time” (the time after the game is decided when the winning team “clears the bench” to let the little-used substitutes get some game-time).

I started following the Knicks in the years when they played such as the Minneapolis Lakers for the NBA Championship (that’s right – the Minneapolis Lakers – the precursor to the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers). They never won the championship but they were good. Under the guidance of Hall of Fame coach Joe Lapchick, their players, such as Dick McGuire, Vince Boyala, Carl Braun, Harry Gallatin, Max Zaslofsky, and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, turned in quality performances every night.

After the Lapchick years, it was slow descendance to mediocrity with Richie Guerin and Willie Naulis serving as the only real stars until the advent of Red Holzman as the team’s coach. Under Hotzman, the team won its only NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973 with possibly the smartest team that ever played together (the only rivals for that appellation would be some Celtic teams) with Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBuscheure, Dick Barnett, Earl Monroe, Jerry Lucas, and the present coach of the LA Lakers, Phil Jackson, forming a strong nucleus.

From the glory days, it was downhill again. Players such as Bernard King and Michael Ray Richardson brought glimmers of hope but the teams were poor for years and stayed that way until the arrival in town of Pat Riley to bring respectability back to “the World’s Most Famous Arena,” Madison Square Garden. Riley’s teams with Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, and John Starks brought a toughness never seen before or since in Knickerbocker teams. Like the Lapchick teams, Riley’s Knicks made it to the NBA Championship Finals but could not “close the deal.”

After Riley, the team started again on the downhill slide until, under Isiah Thomas, it reached rock bottom with awful teams and a “salary cap” problem. When team owner Jim Dolan finally removed Thomas and brought in ex-Indiana Pacer president Donnie Walsh to run the team, things looked more promising. Walsh hired ex-Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni, known primarily for his “run-n’-gun” offense and began to reshape the team roster to get under that salary cap (getting under the salary gap was imperative if the Knicks were to have a chance at signing upcoming free agents such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, or Rudy Gay).

Walsh has been very successful at re-shaping the team and seems to have amassed what should be a talented roster – All Star Center David Lee, Future Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady, young and promising Wilson Chandler, Billy Walker, Toney Douglas & Danilo Gallinari, and the high scoring Al Harrington. Yet, the team’s play is terribly erratic. When one is about to give up all hope, a ray comes through as the Knicks put together back-to-back wins – but, then, comes tonight’s debacle.

Pundits give a number of possible reasons for the poor play:

• D’Antoni has never stressed defense (as Holtzman and Riley did) and, unless the Knicks score a lot of points, they can’t win.

• The constant roster shuffling has made it difficult for the team to establish continuity.

• David Lee, although an All-Star and a quality player, is overmatched in size against most NBA centers and is not the shot blocker that a poor defensive team needs.

• Tracy McGrady, coming off inaction due to knee surgery, is only a shadow of his former self.

• The knowledge by most of the players that they probably won’t be back next year (only Chandler, Gallinari, and Douglas are under contract for 2010-2011), as the team looks to bring in some of the high level free agents, has to cause some morale problems and the temptation to play only for personal statistics.

• An apparent on-going lack of communication between D’Antoni and many of his players (the most reported examples of this have been with Harrington, the since-traded Nate Robinson, and the always injured Eddie Curry).

All of the above certainly play into such disasters as tonight’s game but they cannot be the sole reasons. At times, the ineptness seems to come from a lack of fundamentals and any cohesiveness – balls thrown away, silly infractions, bad fouls, etc. – things that good teams do not do.

If the team does dramatically upgrade the roster over the off-season, the frustration of this year may have been worth it. If, however, the ineptness of this season carries over into next, I don’t think the fans will tolerate it. After the terrible Thomas years, the fans have given the new regime a two-year pass. The pass is about to run out and, if significant upgrades are not made, the so-called “World’s Most Famous Arena” may have a lot of empty seats in 2010-2011.

Jane Morgan Sang It .....

2010-03-13T00:29:00.002-05:00

.. "the day that the rains came down" ...

.. and Saturday, March 13th promises just to be that in the Northeast. It's really too bad -- and I usually don't mind the rain (and it will wash away all the snow) -- because at noon today -- 11 1/2 hours from now, Tom Hanlon will open the doors of a room at JC Fogarty's in Bronxville to usher friends into his annual St. Patrick's Day Remembrance of his son Thomas Hanlon Jr. who died of a brain tumor at the age of twenty-five.

But it is more than just a remembrance -- Tom and his wife lay out for the food and drink for three hours and ask only that those who wish to make a contribution to the "The Thomas Hanlon, Jr. Scholarship Fund at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Grammar School (OLQM)". Those who not attend and wish to contribute may send checks to:

Thomas P. Hanlon Scholarship Fund
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School
Attn: Mr. Andrew G. Woods
71 Arden Street
New York, NY 10040

Andrew Woods, the OLQM's principal, comes to the benefit and brings with him a small cadre, all armed with Macintoshs running Power Points of the students at the school and their activities Every year, the benefit draws about $15,000 for the school, funding five scholarships. It is a worthy expenditure of money.

So it will be a joyous afternoon for seeing old friends and telling stories; it will be a satisfying afternoon because our gathering will benefit folks in need; but underlying it all will be a sadness for the Hanlons' loss. Hopefully, the fact that their loss and young Tom's memory brings happiness to others brings some solace. They deserve it.

2010-03-07T22:03:00.002-05:00

I spent this afternoon at a poetry / music / memoir / performance afternoon in Washington Heights. I was there mainly to hear Nancy Haiduck read her poetry and Neal Haiduck play the clarinet (other links for Nancy --Prairie Home Companion and nyc Big City lit.com. She will have a poem in Issue 96 (the next issue) of "Hanging Loose".

I had high expectations going and was not disappointed.

The Snow Comes .. and Stays

2010-03-01T14:49:00.002-05:00

The kind of snow that thrilled us as schoolchildren in New York City in days of yore doesn't bring the same reaction in Jefferson Valley as adults -- trees down locking cars in a driveway, ice making the other driveway impassible, power off (only four hours for me; my old Inwood buddy Jim Casey is now in his fifth day without power or heat; a local power company says "most back by Wednesday night" -- that will make it a week for Central Hudson customers); Barnes and Noble closed for a day (even though the parking lot was clear)-- in short, a lot of nit problems, irritants that will turn into financial ones when the "tree surgeons" tell us how much it will cost to dismember and remove the fallen trees.

Fun for children and awful for adults -- but it could have been worse!

New Poems Published

2010-03-01T14:03:00.002-05:00

I have a poem, "Memory", published in the February 2010 issue of "Poetry Quarterly" This is in addition to the three mentioned earlier, "1958", "The Bars" & "The Friday Night Dance" that appear in the February 2010 issue of "Inwood Indiana".

My books (four poetry and one omnibus (novel, poems, and short stories) in print and Kindle versions are available through my page at Amazon.

The MF Didn't Beat Her!

2010-02-23T21:24:00.003-05:00

I just finished "The Bag Lay Papers: the priceless experience of losing it all" by Alexandra Penney and I found it poignant, inspiring, and well-written. Penney was shocked in December 2008 to find that she had been fleeced out of her entire savings by the man she had entrusted it to, Bernard Madoff (referred throughout the book as "MF" (for "MotherFucker").

The shock both causes Penney to confront her long time fears of winding up as a 'bag lady" and to pick herself up and start all over again by making choices about what is really important. Penney had enjoyed success throughout her working life as an editor, writer, and painter. Additionally, she had invested in revenue producing real estate in Florida and Long Island so her "bag lady fears" would have seemed to many of us to be irrational and bizarre (even after we learned that they are shared by other successful women, including Lily Tomlin, Gloria Steinem, and Shirley MacLaine) but they were real to Penney and she had tried to cope with them throughout her life. finally learning to deal with them with the help of a past president of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Paradoxically, it was the same doctor, fourteen years after she first met him and now retired at eighty-nine, who suggested that she entrust her life savings to Bernard S. Madoff, saying "His fund is closed but I think I know a way that I can get you in" -- so the man who helped her deal with irrational fears of having nothing unwittingly guided her into a position where the same fears would now be almost rational.

Penney, perhaps best known to many for her "How To Make Love to a Man" guides through both her life & career and the last year skillfully, interspersing the trauma of the last year with chapters taking us through her life, helping us to understand what she had to deal with when everything crashed around her.

The book was a quick read and, when I finished it, I both empathized with Penney and admired her -- she was able not only to deal with the harsh reality but to profit from it as she learned more about herself and what was really important in her life.

Highly recommended!

Life In The Transition Lane

2010-02-20T19:36:00.003-05:00

As I believe I mentioned earlier in this on-going memoir / rant, I, after 10 years as a full-time professor (and 2 as an adjunct), am no longer teaching at Monroe College. This is my sabbatical semester (ending in April, a short 2 months from now) and, at its conclusion, I'm on my own -- so I should have some new path from the famous "fork in the road;" most importantly, a new source of income.

The exploration of the new paths is exciting but also brings some stress. To re-cap a few explorations:

• I have been writing feverishly, completing two books, “The Inwood Book” (an omnibus containing some poems, a few shorts stories, and a novel, “Offering It Up”) and a very large collection of poems, “New and Collected Poems." These and three previous collections of poetry, “Cashing A Check”, “Writing In My Head”, and “With a Chip on My Shoulder (A Chapbook),” are available on Amazon in both softcover and Kindle versions. While the books have gotten good reviews, sales have been underwhelming. One of the negatives of “Publishing On Demand” (and the only negative I have seen) is that all publicity and marketing are the responsibility of the author and it is often a tough road to go to establish oneself.

• Barbara McMullen and I, together with our long-time publisher at Computer Shopper Magazine, Stan Veit, are re-launching our web-based magazine, “Web 2.0 The Magazine”. While there is little chance of great initial revenue from the magazine, it is a labor of love that may eventually lead to something,

• I’m looking for freelance writing assignments, something that I haven’t really done in fifteen years – and, for the fifteen years that I did such writing, I never really had to scrounge for work. It was not my prime source of income and, when I had an idea for a piece that I would want to do, I’d simply have to call a contact and suggest it – and either do it or not. Additionally, I was on the masthead or a regular at a significant number of publications so I had the assurance of regular writing opportunities. In the time since I have been a regular contributor, the industry has changed dramatically, the contacts have moved on and many of the publications have either moved solely to the web or disappeared completely.

• I’ve also been looking for adjunct teaching positions but the winter semester was long gone when I could look and the summer semester is not a fertile ground for such positions.

• I will also put out some feelers for a return to consulting – most specifically in the area of “Social Networking”. I’ve designed and implemented networks used by thousands of people in wide ranges of applications. Once again, as with all the above, this effort requires marketing -- getting the word out and analyzing and pursuing opportunities.

Unfortunately, marketing, while one of the most important activities in turning the above potentials into revenue, is not an immediate revenue producer. It is rather an expense, both in actual cash outlay and in time that might be used for writing and other income activities.

On the positive side, the time that used to be eaten up by an unholy academic schedule (Monday & Wednesday from 10AM to 10PM; Tuesday & Thursday from 6PM to 9:30PM and Saturday from 8:30AM to 11:30AM) is now available for other enjoyable things such as writing, reading, and re-sharpening my consulting tools (This is not to say that the teaching was not enjoyable; the upper-level courses where the students were Information Systems majors and had passion for the material was always enjoyable and the knowledge that I prepared students well for careers was invigorating -- but introductory courses to non-majors who could care less about the material was not something I really enjoyed and the six and seven course load was onerous.)

Additionally, the more reasonable time-schedule has led us to consider getting a dog, a move that will really put a regimen into my life (4 walks a day). I had to give up my dog fifty years ago when it was found that I was allergic to animal hair -- a truly heartbreaking occurrence for a child. For the last 30 years, I've been able to have cats -- my wife had them and my children wanted them and, through shots, I was able to not only endure them but be their biggest fan. A few years ago, I came to fall in love with a dog, a friend's Shih Tzu, and was elated when told that they were non-allergic. Unfortunately, my awful schedule, coupled with my wife's (who also lost her full time Dean's position with the same institution and is now adjuncting at three colleges with an erratic schedule) made it impractical to take on the commitment required for a dog.

Now, however, it seems practical and yesterday, we looked at a three month old Shih Tzu puppy named "Rocky" and told the foster mother that we wanted it. Our credentials are now being evaluated in comparison to other would-be parents who are making appearances this week -- and we should have a decision early next week (I haven't been this nervous since my children applied for college).

So -- the adventure continues!

Eight Days In Seton Parish

2010-02-07T08:13:00.002-05:00

I don’t know whether my local Catholic parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Shrub Oak, NY) has ever had such a roller coast ride as it did from Friday, January 29th through Friday, February 5th – and, through it all, the person involved in everything was my pastor and friend, Monsignor Tom Sandi.

To recap:

• Friday night 1/29 – Parish Dinner for Volunteers, a recognition of those whose unpaid efforts help to make Seton the vibrant parish that it is; a night of cheer, good conversation, and camaraderie.

• Saturday morning 1/30 @7:45 AM – Round Table Discussion on Ethics and Morality; a monthly attempt to make sense of happenings in the world from an ethical perspective.

• Saturday afternoon / evening – Mass celebrated by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and reception; a gala event with a true “rock star” of the church whose kindness, generosity, and joy came through in his every word.

• Sunday afternoon 1/31 – Panel discussion with Pastors on what it means to be a pastor – the professional joys and hardships of such a life; honest discussions with those who serve us.

• Tuesday 2/2 – Sudden death of Deacon Frank Bruno, a mainstay of Seton Parish (two days after he attended the panel discussion and a day after he was performing his duties at Seton). Frank, a retired NYPD First Grade Detective, was involved with Seton for 30 years and was a Deacon for 19 of those. The death was a shock to all.

• Thursday 2/4 – Wake of Deacon Bruno in the church.

• Friday 2/5 – Funeral of Deacon Bruno, concelebrated by Bishop Dominick Lagonegro, Msgr. Sandi, Father George Lodi and visiting priests and deacons.. The funeral in a packed church (with former pastor Bishop James McCarthy in attendance) was a celebration of Frank’s life and service to his family, the citizens of New York, and the parishioners of SEAS. It was a combination of joy and sadness as we “sent a good man off” and Msgr. Sandi, in his homily, was “at the top of his game”, as eloquent as I have ever heard him, capturing Frank’s life perfectly.

All in all, it was a joyous, sad, exhilarating, exhausting week – and, for most of it, I was merely a spectator, while Monsignor Sandi was involved in every detail and deserves our thanks and gratitude.

Two Funerals

2010-02-05T14:00:00.003-05:00

I went to two funerals in the last two days (Thursday, February 4th and today). Although the funerals differed in location and the groups in attendance, the deceased had similarities.

Yesterday's, held in "the home parish", Good Shepherd (Inwood, Manhattan, NYC) was for hero fireman and all-around good neighborhood guy Jim McArdle -- I always thought of Jim as "Jimmy" or "young Jim McArdle" because my baseball and basketball coach during my teen years was Jim McArdle, ex-minor league baseball player and also a fireman and good guy.

Jim was piped into Good Shepherd by a bagpiper and accompanied by a formal NYFD entourage. The church was packed and,in the course of the solemn Mass, his sister, Kathy McArdle, led us a a very moving and eloquent personal petition of the faithful-- eloquence matched only by the wonderfully moving eulogy given at the end of Mass by Jim's older brother, John McArdle.

Today's funeral, at my current parish, St. Elizabeth Seton (Shrub Oak, NY) was for Gaspare Frank Bruno, retired NYPD first grade detective and, for the last nineteen years, a deacon at Seton. The church was packed to send Frank off (with ex-pastor Bishop James McCarthy in attendance). Msgr. Thomas Sandi, pastor of SEAS, was "at the top of his game"in his homily describing Frank's life and commitment to service.

The fact that both were buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Valhalla, NY) was only of the similarities between the funerals. Both men gave of themselves without hesitation both to family and to the citizens of New York. Both were highly decorated and had legions of friends to "see them off". Both gave more than they -- unless one counts the love that was evident at their funerals.

Those who knew either were richer for the experience.

"The Inwood Book" on Amazon

2010-01-25T09:10:00.003-05:00

I took the picture when I found that "The Inwood Book" had just just been listed on Amazon -- go to Amazon and search for "John F McMullen" -- you will find it under my three poetry collections (Note -- the author royalty is higher if the books are purchased from Create Space -- but some folks prefer Amazon).

The great shirt came from this year's "Remembrance of Fallen Heroes" (which is mentioned in the book).

Listening to David Mathinson

2010-01-25T00:03:00.005-05:00

Within the last four days, I’ve heard David Mathinson, “compiler” of “Be The Media”, speak in venues in Westchester County, NY (Mathinson uses “compiler” rather than “editor”. for reasons that escape me because, although there twenty-four contributors, including Mathinson, after listening to Mathinson, it is obviously his vision that drives the book).

The first of the talks was held on Thursday, January 21st as part of the "3rd Westcheter Tweetup", a program sponsored by the Westchester 140 at the Jacob Burns Media Arts Lab in Pleasantville. That presentation lasted less that an hour and served as a preamble for the longer presentation made two days later at the Katonah Village Library.

In both presentations, Mathinson stressed that the advent of Web 2.0 is part of a Renaissance moving the information society from one of “scarcity” in which very few companies (newspapers, television networks, music publishers, concert managers) controlled the dissemination of material to one of “abundance” in which we, if we choose to be, are all writers, video producers, musicians, etc.

He discussed how the new providers can only monetize their products if they can either develop mass distribution, usually unlikely, or develop a lesser number of quality “patrons” or fans who may be willing to support the product with one day’s pay a year (if the provider can amass 1,000 fans willing to spend $100, the return would be $100,000).

Mathinson went through his own experience in turning one “tweet follow” into a sale of 4 books to a Facebook “friending” of the purchaser to a “face-to-face” meeting of the same person at a conference to a sale of 5 thousand books to college lecturing to foreign consulting and work with the United Nations. The story illustrated his point that one leverages the endeavors by moving up the value chain – giving away an MP3 or a chapter or a blog to a low price product (book, DVD, etc) to higher priced products to consulting and lecturing.

To be successful in such an endeavor, Mathinson said that we must be attentive to our fans, followers and friends – and not only cultivate Twitter followers but analyze them through such tools as “We Follow", "Friend or Follow", and "Twitterholic:.

The above just scratches the surface of the two presentations. I suggest:
• Purchase of the book
• Following of Mathison on Twitter
• Keep up with his schedule on Facebook and attend any presentations near you.
• Check out the links to his video, blogs, etc
• Subscribe to the weekly update

.. and, please, comment here on your response to his material.

"The Inwood Book" and other happenings

2010-01-23T03:26:00.002-05:00

I just published "The Inwood Book". This book contains a novel, "Offering Up" that I had been working, on and off, for ten years (using everything from a Palm 7 with a keyboard through all sorts of operating systems and word processing programs, finally settling on MS-Word on both Mac and WINTEL machines and Open Office Write on LINUX machines with my ever present USB drive on my neck to move the material back and forth). I'm also close to publishing a very large collection of poems -- so the beat goes on.

I just attended two very interesting talks -- one by Daniel Callahan on Health Care Reform or the lack thereof. Dan is the author of the 2009 book "Taming the Beast: Why Medical Costs Are Destroying Our Health Care System". Dan spoke very well and there was good audience response. The next night, I heard Dave Mathison, author of "BeTHEMedia" speak in Pleasantville, NY and will hear more from him at the Katonah Library,

We're also re-launching "Web 2.0 The Magazine" which had been dormant for a few months -- so it's been a bit of a busy time. To keep track of all these things, I've launched a "Facebook Fan Page" which should provide links to other good material.

Stay tuned

Haiti -- Leave it to the Rev. Pat

2010-01-13T18:27:00.001-05:00

"Haiti is cursed" -- Pat Robertson

Wow -- insanity lives!

Memorial For Tom Shea -- 1/9/2010

2010-01-11T11:14:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, January 9th, I attended a memorial in New York City for "a member of the team" (someone from my old neighborhood - Inwood, Manhattan, NYC) who died of ALS. When I returned home, I wrote the following for the Inwood Social Network and the Inwood Mailing List:

Jim Casey, Ed Hartman, and I were the Inwood representatives among the over 100 attendees at the memorial held for the late Tom Shea (Thomas Aquinas Shea), a victim, at the age of sixty-five, of ALS, at Druid's watering hole on 10th Avenue at 50th Street. Tom was the second oldest of the eight children in the wonderful Shea family of 261 Seaman Avenue (of the eight, five were in attendance -- three from California, one from the Washington DC area and one from the Boston area).

As soon as I entered Druid's, it was obvious to me that this was an appropriate place to hold a memorial for a lad who might have moved from Inwood (downtown and to Taos, New Mexico) but did not leave it. Druid's reminded me of the Broadstone in its glory days and, from the recollections of the many who spoke -- family, friends, co-teachers, ex-brothers, and a student -- it was obvious that Tom, even in the darkest days of his accursed illness, had retained the same biting humor, zest for life, and love of his family and friends that we associate with our roots. His enjoyment of literature, sports, music, and good bar conversation was evident in all the stories told and the love shown by the story tellers could not be missed (one speaker said "It's hard for the Irish to use the word 'love' but we loved Tom").

There was music as well as the spoken word and a well done memorial program that concluded with the text of one of Tom's favorite poems, "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats. The poem was also read by an actor near the end of the afternoon.

The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I lived across the street from the Sheas and knew from my first exposure to them that this was a special family -- a family whose humor and warmth I attributed to their mother, Mary Shea -- a woman who I held the dearest of all the mothers in the neighborhood. I find it very fitting then that one of Tom's final wishes was to establish a scholarship in his mother's name at Holy Name School (where Tom had been principal) to "reward a student who has demonstrably displayed both integrity and potential -- and whose family financial struggles."

Contributions may be sent to:

Mary A. Shea Scholarship Fund
c/o Holy Name School
202 West 97th Street
New York, NY 10025

For further information, call 212 749-1240

I hope that this group, as it has in the past will step-up-to-the-plate and support this cause in memory of two generation of Sheas.

A New Adventure Begins

2010-01-05T10:50:00.004-05:00

My full-time teaching career at Monroe College ended yesterday (after 10 years full-time and a few part-time years). The schedule had become very consuming -- two days from morning to late night, two other nights, other meetings, and lots of preparation. With such a schedule it was difficult to be able to accomplish much with our on-line magazine, "Web 2.0 The Magazine" (about to re-launch), or the writing I've been trying to complete. (I should have a novel, short stories, and poems, all contained in "The Inwood Book" and a large collection of poetry, "New and Collected Poems," out this month) or keeping up with this blog (which some folk pay to receive on their Kindle).

So, it's now back to writing, consulting, and adjuncting (I may adjunct back at Monroe in the fall) -- something that Barbara and I did for years -- but it will be the first time in roughly twenty years that neither of us has a full time job as the safety net. It is this factor that makes the transition an adventure as well as a venture.

The consulting will, in all probability, focus on Social Networking and "Anywhere Computing," "brainstorming" through actual implementations. I say "in all probability" because, when Barbara and I launched McMullen & McMullen, Inc. in 1978, our focus was intended to be mainframe-based financial data processing, based on our cumulative twenty-five years of experience in the field. As we began down this road, we, by coincidence happened to see an early Apple II on the desk of Morgan Stanley's Electronics Analyst, Ben Rosen (later a well-known venture capitalist and Chairman of the Board of Compaq Computer). We bought one for our own education and, shortly thereafter, the first electronic spreadsheet, "Visicalc", was introduced and we were fortunate to be in the right time at the right place to have success as consultants, writers, and educators in the broad field of microcomputers and telecommunications.

It has been a very rewarding experience at Monroe with real high points -- students telling me "you changed my life" and recognition from the dais at a graduation (held in Columbia University's Baker Field half a block from where I grew up) from Monroe President Stephen Jerome and IBM Speaker Bill Lawrence for my role in opening communications with IBM and placing over 100 alumni with the firm, all in front of 8,000 watchers who were kind enough to applaud. These were special occurrences, of course, but the day-to-day teaching of students wanting to succeed in the IT field and then seeing them actually do it was reward enough in itself (five of my ex-students, all with Masters degrees, now teach at Monroe, many are extremely successful within corporations, and some are independent consultants).

So, now, another slight "fork in the road" -- and we shall see where it goes.

"When you come to the fork in the road, take it" -- L.P. Berra

It's Broken -- Can We Fix It?

2009-12-26T00:53:00.001-05:00

No matter what side a person stands on the issues involved in the Health Care Debate, it should be obvious that the system is broken. Lawmakers saying things that they know are untrue – extortionists like Lieberman and Nelson holding the Senate up for concessions far beyond the will of the majority. The whole process is dysfunctional – why? A major reason is the role of the almighty dollar. Lobbyists for the health care industry set a new record this year for contributions to members of Congress (with the banking industry, usually first, in second place – and the lawyers must be up there for no action on tort reform).

So we wind up with a bill that is not “Health Care Reform” but rather “Health Care Expansion” It:

• brings 30 million new folks into the health care system with mandated coverage – 30 million new customers for the insurance companies (and, for those new customers who cannot afford the insurance, the federal government (you, the taxpayer) will subsidize the coverage).
• has no “single payer” or “public option” or “expansion of medicare” or elimination of the anti-trust exemption enjoyed by the insurance companies – any of which would drive down the costs of the system.
• has no loosening of the restriction on the import of Canadian drugs.
• has no “tort” reform which will bring down doctor’s malpractice insurance and, in the words of one doctor friend, reduce the amount of ‘cover-your-ass” testing that goes on.
• provides for extortion payoffs to a number of Senators (Nelson is the most obvious and some say that the “Medicaid one” violates the Constitution; Lieberman’s wife, supposedly, works as a consultant to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies in CT – if so, that payoff is more of a stealth one).

We could debate the merits of any of the above points from a political philosophy or economics vantage point – and this is what Congress should have been doing. Instead, it should be obvious to all that the whole debate was corrupted by influence; influence paid for by lobbyists with monies that eventually result in higher consumer prices.

Ok. – it’s broken! What can we do about it? Some look for public financing of elections as the answer; other look for restrictions on campaign contributions. Some are against these ideas as “restrictions on speech”; others say that such restrictions are unworkable anyhow.

It seems to me that we can’t just give up – there must be some way to channel this groundswell of anger from all sides of the political spectrum into some constructive action.

Any ideas?

Wired -- All The Time

2009-12-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

More and more when I walk into Men's Rooms, I heard voices coming from stalls -- no, it's not Senator Larry Craig (R-Iowa); it's one voice -- someone talking on a cell phone. There are also often men standing at urinals with a phone in one hand and their urinators in the other.

What do the people on the other end think when they hear toilets flushing and other bathroom noises?

Have we gone so far into multi-tasking and the quest for time efficiency that good taste and sensitivity no longer matter?

I can't be the only one who notices this -- at least I hope I'm not

Rubber Bands On Your Wrists and The Glorious 1950s (not for women)

2009-11-18T07:51:00.004-05:00

A while back, I was talking to a friend, a retired IBM computer scientist, at my local book store and he pointed at the rubber band on his wrist and said "You know what this meant, don't you?" I said "Sure, it meant you worked with punched cards" (we had both been programmers at stages of our careers) ". You always had spare rubber bands in the event that the ones around your program deck broke". The rubber bands were more representative of a computer programmer than the nefarious "pocket protector" (I never had one or knew anyone who did).

I was reminded of that nostalgic trip back the other day when, talking to another friend, I mentioned that the society had not always been good to women in the work place and she said "it makes we shake my head when people wish for a 'return to the 1950s'".

I grew up in the 1960's work place and, while the sixties were considered the "sexual revolution" and the era of "women's liberation". it wasn't that way in the workplace. A man could be judged as nasty -- "a rotten son of a batch", "a real bastard" - but nastiness in a woman always had sexual connotations -- "She must not be getting enough", "It must be that time of the month". The comments were usually followed by smirks -- but nobody smirked about the "real bastard".

Likewise, a sharp man on the move was "aggressive", "a real go-getter" while a woman with the same attributes had "balls" -- who in their right mind would want to be a woman with balls or would use that as praise for a woman? Do we speak of a caring, warm man as having a vagina?

All this coming twenty some-odd years after World War II when "Rosie the Riveter" had helped defeat the Axis!

In recent years, things have changed certainly in relation to gender (and race) tolerance but we still have a way to go. Any woman that I have ever discussed this with has had some story of gender discrimination -- hopefully, our grandaughers will not have such stories.

Ancestors and God

2009-11-16T12:31:00.002-05:00

This morning on Facebook,I saw a posting from a friend, "Today I am thankful for my home and the presence of the Lord in my life." Someone else, thinking it was a nice thought, replied "What a wonderful way to start out a Monday morning. Enjoy your day. (:D)".

To me, with all respect to the original poster, it seemed like a platitude -- however, that is "to me"; I'm sure that she lives a life of belief.

The posting raised other thought in my mind. So I replied "A nice thought -- and we should be grateful for whatever benefits we have. We were born in the US (me to a family that valued education) from a line of ancestors that all came from some place else at some time -- they chose a path that brought us here, Has they not, we could have been killed in a religious war in Europe, staved in Ireland, flooded in East Africa, been on the wrong side in WWI, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq. Instead we were lucky to have gotten here -- to an imperfect society that still seems better than any other that I know.

In many cases, we don't know much about these ancestors -- their reasons for abandoning some homeland for what they saw as a better choice. All we know is that we owe them!

So we can thank them as well as a God....

Have fun"

I am confused about God -- but I know that I had ancestors (in my case, four grandparents -- of whom, I only knew one) who, for whatever reason, chose to come here. They met, married, and had children and their children met, married and had children -- and I am one of two. Was this God's plan or is it a genetic accident?

Have We Lost Common Sense When We Talk About Job Loss?

2009-11-06T21:43:00.001-05:00

The most recent unemployment figures show over 10% unemployment. While analysts bemoan this high rate, they find solace in the fact that the number of “new unemploys” has slowed. They see this as an evidence of a turn around, albeit a slow one, They further point out that a decrease in unemployment always trails other indicators in a recovery.

Flash – one of the reasons that less people were laid off is that many employers have already laid off as many folks as they can. The latest layoffs were either incremental or the result of new business mergers or failures.

A more important point is that many of these jobs are NEVER coming back, no matter how robust the economy becomes. Technology eliminates jobs forever every day. Every bill paid on-line means that an envelope is not opened, checks are not batched for deposit, and data is not entered by an employee into an accounts receivable system. Every book downloaded in a Kindle, Nook or other e-book reader means one less book being printed, shipped, and sold through a retail store. Any item purchased online eliminates steps in the retail process and, as the percentage of goods purchased on-line, jobs are lost.

Further, the persons losing these jobs are neither academically nor, perhaps, intellectually prepared for the jobs that are in-demand in the new global economy – electric engineers, systems engineers, scientists, monetary experts – jobs for which the Chinese are preparing hundreds of thousands.

In short, no matter how rapidly the economy responds, the prospect for job recovery is dismal. A radical re-definition of work may be called for – one in which public service, presently accomplished through volunteerism (such as Little League coaching, Girl Scout troop management, etc.), becomes taxpayer funded. Whatever the necessary changers, anything radical will be foreign to many of us and, therefore, threatening to many.

We must be prepared to accept radical changes; more importantly, we must be looking for whatever alternatives can be found to our present employment situation.

A Poem With An Ending

2009-11-02T19:46:00.001-05:00

A Poem With An Ending
By johnmac The Bard

Philip Levine wrote a poem,
a rather long poem,
”A Poem With No Ending”;
it was published in the “Paris Review”
(and in the “Pushcart Book of Poetry”
where I read it). It is, in my judgment,
a very good poem and I recommend it.

The title got me thinking – everything
that we know in this world has an ending
(“in this world” is a gratuity to my co-religionists).

Life is a poem
with irregular meter,
strong, soft, and profane language
infused with deep-felt emotion
and it evolves to become
the story of our existence.

And the end, the last line, is death.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

The Best of All Time

2009-10-30T00:13:00.003-04:00

It is always hard to call someone or something the "best of all time", whether it be is sports, the arts, politics, etc. There are always thing to dispute, times to consider, the competition to evaluate, etc. These are items of debate that go on into time immemorial -- Shakespeare vs Chaucer vs O'Neill; Ruth vs Cobb; Mailer vs Hemmingway; Brown vs OJ; Magic vs Jordan vs Oscar; Burton vs Gable; Washington vs Lincoln vs FDR; Sinatra vs Caruso vs Robeson; etc.

It is hard to ever be sure -- different times and circumstances require different skills and strengths and just this factor often makes comparisons meaningless. Yet, if we are ever fortunate enough to witness a person who is clearly the best of all time at what her or she does, we are lucky, almost honored.

I am that lucky -- I've been following baseball for over sixty years in person and know more about baseball history than most Americans know about the history of their country or members of a religion know about its precepts and I have and continue to witness the, without question, greatest relief pitcher of all time, Mariano Rivera.

K. A. Shott's "Bridal Mysticism" -- Wow!

2009-10-25T07:51:00.001-04:00

I just read K. A. Shott's "Bridal Mysticism", available both for purchase and as a free PDF download (Do Both!) from her web site, and was blown away -- it is deep, beautiful, and incredibly sensual.

Shott's other work -- a wide range -- fiction, non-fiction, and poetry -- is also available at the site.

At ... Or Almost At ... 70

2009-10-24T06:11:00.002-04:00

At ... Or Almost At ... 70
By johnmac the bard

I’ve been reading
“The Book Of Seventy”.
a collection of poems
by Alicia Suskin Ostriker,
published in 2009.
two years after she turned seventy.

The book has particular meaning
for me as I am but five days
away from that milestone.

When my friends and I were teenagers,
we thought of seventy-year olds
as either feeble or dead.

I am neither
although many of my friends are dead
and I don’t run up and down a
basketball court any more.

I’m in relatively good health –
a life time of asthma and fifteen years
of diabetes haven’t really slowed me
nor have the basketball ankle, knee,
finger arthritis, and other pains.

I’m still a big kid.
I ride a motor scooter, often eighty-mile
round trips to-and-from the college at
which I teach! I have a gaggle of cats
(and want to add a small puppy) and
I delight in new books, new tech toys,
and on-line connections.
In short, I love life.

I’ve been lucky all my life.
Great interesting jobs;
two marriage;
two great children;
always luckier than I deserve.

Yet, at this age, the question
lurking is always “How long?”

How much time is left?
There is so much to do!
A novel to finish;
Poems to write;
New technology breakthroughs
to experience;
More students to teach;
and more time to enjoy my
family and home.

Some, at this age,
blindly trust in God.
Others become bitter
as they deteriorate …
… and others just
go along.

Which will I do?
How the hell do I know?

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Disruptive Technologies

2009-10-19T16:37:00.002-04:00

The following links must be checked out (click on them):

* Sixth Sense
* Did You Know?

They will help makes sense out of how difficult it is to keep up:

· Moore’s Law – “The number of transistors would double ever two years without increasing the cost to users” – which means that every eighteen months, the processing power of computers doubles while price holds constant (Gordon Moore – “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits, 1965)

· Metcalfe’s Law – “The Usefullness of a Network is the square of the number of users connected to it." – Value expands exponentially”

· Law of Disruption – “Technology changes exponentially, but social, economic, and legal systems change incrementally” (Larry Downes – The Laws of Disruption; Basic Books, 2009)

johnmac The Bard

2009-10-17T10:19:00.001-04:00

“johnmac The Bard”
By johnmac

I just bought a book of poetry,
“In A Mirror Darkly”.
I enjoyed the poetry and it
was also illustrated very nicely.

I am rarely jealous of another’s writing,
being of a sort who admires good work,
and I certainly don’t envy the art
because I know it’s something
I could never do.

What did bring out one of the
seven deadlies in me, however,
was the poet’s name – his moniker:
“Sullivan the Poet”

Damn!
That’s a great name – and he grabbed it
before I even thought of it --
-- or of putting it on a business card.
(Not “Sullivan”, you dimwit; “the Poet”)

I told my wife of the envy
and she, as she oft does,
immediately had a solution
“You should be ‘johnmac The Bard”

“johnmac The Bard”? hmmm ..
I like the ring of that!
And it can tie into readings:
“Poetry Readings Tonight by
johnmac The Bard”

Ok – print the business cards!

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

The Law of Disruption -- Two Poems

2009-10-15T11:44:00.000-04:00

The Law of Disruption - I

By johnmac

Larry Downes, in his book,

“The Laws of Disruption”,

states the law:

“Technology changes exponentially,

but social, economic, and legal

systems change incrementally.”

Wow!

Think about it!

If true (and it is), this means that

the world, as we know it, can’t keep up.

Borders crumble, copyright laws

change or become meaningless,

retail businesses implode,

sources of taxation disappear,

current job skills become unneeded

while new needed skills are in short supply,

and, for the long range,

Facebook and Twitter

are more important than

Osama and Obama.

And that is scary,

very scary.

Must every new generation

be afraid? I think so.

---------------

The Law of Disruption - II

By johnmac

If there is to be constant

exponential change,

who will keep up with it?

Very few of us.

It will constantly be the

young who grow up

with the new technology

who will “get it”

and it is the middle-aged

and the “mature” who

won’t get it

(just as the majority of

my contemporaries don’t

get Twitter or Facebook).

Further, the time slices for

each new technology will

get smaller and smaller --

meaning that, unless we

are able to adapt constantly

(something we don’t do

well now, the useful

work cycle of each generation

will get smaller and smaller.

and it will become more and

more obvious that we are

simply fodder for the evolutionary

process – pieces in a game plan

which we don’t understand.

"The Most Important and Powerful Word In The English Language"

2009-10-11T23:24:00.003-04:00

So saith Lewis Black, referring to the magic word "Fuck" in his Forward to "The F Word" by Jesse Sheidlower (Oxford University Press, 2009; ISBN 978-0-19-53911-8). Before you dismiss this work as some sleazy pornographic book, note the publisher -- the Oxford University Press -- and note further that the author is the Oxford English Dictionary's Editor at Large.

This is a serious book about a word that has been around since the fifteenth century. Following Black's well-written forward, the author provides a forty-one page essay, both explaining the format and rationale of the book and providing a history of the uses of the word through the ages, its appearance in dictionaries and newsprint, and related court cases. The main portion of the book comes next -- a two hundred seventy (270) page dictionary of various fuck-related terms and abbreviations.

Some of theses terms are well known to most and some are a tad obscure -- I found them interesting and often humorous. A few follow:

Feck - a "less offensive" term used in Ireland to replace fuck without losing the meaning. "Feck off"
Fug -- another term for the same purpose, used by Norman Mailer in his great war novel, "The Naked and The Dead" when his publishers wouldn't let him use fuck (Legend has it that when the outspoken Talluah Bankhead was introduced to him, she said "Oh, yes. You're the young man who can't spell fuck.")
HMFIC - "Head Mother Fucker In Charge"
FIGMO & FUJIGMO -- "Fuck It, Got My Orders" & "Fuck You, Jack, I Got My Orders"
Fiddler's Fuck -- Doesn't Make a difference -- I don't give a fiddler's fuck.
Fuck Off -- Get Away, Go to Hell
FOAD - "Fuck Off And Die"
Fucked By The Fickle Finger Of Fate -- thwarted or victimized by bad fortune
FTW - "Fuck The World"
BFD -- "Big Fucking Deal"; who cares?
ASAFP -- "As Soon As Fucking Possible" -- an example of how an "F" can be stuck in anywhere (and not as blasphemous as OMFG)
SNAFU -- "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up"; originally a US Army term, it spawned TARFU -- "Things Are Really Fucked Up" and FUBAR -- "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition"
RTFM -- "Read The Fucking Manual"; a directive normally over the Internet to someone asking trivial questions.
WTF -- "What The Fuck?" (or "Where The Fuck" or "Who The Fuck").

A fun book about an interesting word.

T-Mobile's Sidekick Outage -- and Barbara McMullen's experience II

2009-10-11T08:07:00.002-04:00

T-Mobile's Sidekick Smart Phone Service, powered by Microsoft's Danger Data Service has been out of commission for over a week and now the users are warned that their data, stored on Danger's Servers, may have been lost and that the data that remains on their Sidekick devices is at jeopardy, putting customers contact and calendar information at risk to disappear.

Some johnmac comments:
1. There was never a problem like this prior to the Microsoft acquisition of Danger.
2. There has been little media coverage of this problem although I suspect that multi-thousands of users are affected.
3. It would seem that, given all of its technical expertise, Microsoft could come up with some way to replicate the original Danger SideKick to Danger backup. Failing that, it should be able to provide a USB backup to Outlook.
4. Perhaps Google can jump in witha Sidekick to G-Mail, G-Calendar, etc. If so, game over and a lot of Androids get sold.

-----------------------
The latest missive:

Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.
Updated: 10/10/2009 12:35 PM PDT
T-MOBILE AND MICROSOFT/DANGER STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION
Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:
T-Mobile and the Sidekick data services provider, Danger, a subsidiary of Microsoft, are reaching out to express our apologies regarding the recent Sidekick data service disruption.
We appreciate your patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on maintaining platform stability, and restoring all services for our Sidekick customers.
Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device - such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos - that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low. As such, we wanted to share this news with you and offer some tips and suggestions to help you rebuild your personal content. You can find these tips in our Sidekick Contacts FAQ. We encourage you to visit the Forums on a regular basis to access the latest updates as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption.
In addition, we plan to communicate with you on Monday (Oct. 12) the status of the remaining issues caused by the service disruption, including the data recovery efforts and the Download Catalog restoration which we are continuing to resolve. We also will communicate any additional tips or suggestions that may help in restoring your content.
We recognize the magnitude of this inconvenience. Our primary efforts have been focused on restoring our customers' personal content. We also are considering additional measures for those of you who have lost your content to help reinforce how valuable you are as a T-Mobile customer.
We continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost.
Once again, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger regret any and all inconvenience this matter has caused.
Service Disruption FAQs| Disruption Credit FAQs| Disruption Discussion
Password/Sign-in Text Message FAQs | Password/Sign-in Discussion

Obama As Nobel Laurete?

2009-10-10T11:10:00.001-04:00

Let’s get this straight
right from the top --
-- I like President Obama.
I voted for him.
I support heath care reform.
I respect him as a person and
think that he is the most
articulate president since JFK.

But the Nobel Prize For Peace??
A prize which he was nominated
for two weeks after his inauguration?
Absurd!

NBC pundit David Gregory
put it in perspective, saying
“They’re giving him the Cy Young
Award this afternoon” (The Cy Young
Award is given annually to the best
pitcher in each Major Baseball League
-- it is given at the END of a season after
the pitcher accomplishes a lot).

The president deserves credit for
stating “I do not feel that I deserve
to be in the company of so many
of the transformative figures who've
been honored by this prize, men and
women who've inspired me and
inspired the entire world through
their courageous pursuit of peace.”

He’s right!
Nelson Mandell spent years in jail;
Martin Luther King, Jr. was hosed, arrested,
jailed and defamed;
Lech Walesa was beaten and arrested;
Mother Teresa spent a lifetime working
with those in abject poverty;
and Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin
ended a lifetime of hostility.
and Barack Obama got elected!

Certainly, his election was a major
accomplishment and his words are
eloquent and inspiring but his only
real accomplishment to date seems
to be not being George W. Bush.

It the Nobel Committee was looking for
an American President who had made
significant contributions to peace.
it only had to look no further than
Bill Clinton.

Clinton’s use of troops stopped killing
in Bosnia and his use of George Mitchell
(another possible honoree) brought
the peace process to Northern Ireland.
So, Clinton seems very deserving based
on real accomplishments unless
adulterous blow jobs are dis-qualifiers.

Let’s hope that President Obama
grows into the honor – he well may
but, right now, it’s like giving the
Heisman Trophy to a college football
player before the season starts.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Lucky, Not Proud -- a poem

2009-10-09T23:21:00.002-04:00

Lucky, Not Proud
By johnmac

I’m not proud to be an American;
being an American is not
an accomplishment of mine.
I didn’t fight for its independence.
I didn’t even choose to come here.
My grandparents did – and I will
be forever grateful to them
for their courage in coming here.

I am very lucky to have been
born an American.
I could have starved to death in Biafra,
been butchered in Cambodia,
gassed in Auschwitz,
sent to a gulag in Russia,
bombed in Hiroshima,
slaughtered in the Congo,
drowned in Indonesia,
blown up in Jerusalem,
or enslaved in the Sudan.
Instead, I was born in
the United States of America
and get to sit here and muse.

I am truly lucky as are my co-citizens.
Shouldn’t we do whatever we can to ensure
that you don’t have to be lucky not to be
starved, butchered, bombed, slaughtered,
drowned, blown up, or enslaved?
Or is it sufficient just to be jingoistic and
be proud of something we neither earned
nor even deserved?

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

NYC Computer Organizations

2009-10-07T12:02:00.002-04:00

To Monroe IT Students, Alumni, and Faculty

NYACC (the New York Amateur Computer Club, NYPC (the New York IBM User Group), ACM, 2600, the NYC Chapter of ACM, and NYC Wireless (The New York City Wireless Group) all warrant your attention, both to learn from experienced people and to make professional contacts (NYPC and the NYC Chapter of ACM are the best for this, while national ACM has many courses with certificates) -- they are all resume items, providing you become a member and all, but national ACM, have regular local meetings -- go to the web sites for more information (NYACC's October Meeting is tomorrow night, Thursday, October 8th and the subject is "Internet Fraud".

Please point students and other interestested parties to this notice

Reading Mike Sharpe -- a poem

2009-10-06T13:42:00.002-04:00

Reading Mike Sharpe
By johnmac

“Thou Shalt Not Kill
Unless Otherwise Instructed”
By Mike Sharpe, 2005
ISBN: 0-7656-1722-6

The poems in Sharpe’s book
hit me like a hammer.
Short, clear poems –
beautiful in their power,
tough in their thrust.

He puts me to shame and envy
-- shame because he speaks out
loudly on the awful tolls of war
-- and envy because he writes
better than I do.
But mostly admiration because
this is a wonderful book.

In the poem “Thou Shalt Not Kill”,
Sharpe has God admonishing both
Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush.
Their answers:
‘I think you’re out of touch, said
Osama bin Laden.”
“I’m afraid you’re out of touch as well
said George W. Bush”.

This book deserves to be a success;
more important, it deserves to be read;
and, most important, it deserves to
be thoughtfully considered.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Memory -- A Poem

2009-10-05T21:00:00.001-04:00

Memory
By johnmac

I remember my first erection;
I didn't know what it was.

I remember my first kiss;
it was with Janie
(from now on, names are omitted
to protect the not-so-innocent).

I remember my first “French Kiss”.
I remember the first breast I touched.
I remember the first ....
well, you get the idea.
I remember it all

Now where did I put my keys?

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

T-Mobile's Sidekick Outage -- and Barbara McMullen's experience

2009-10-03T10:19:00.002-04:00

Beginning yesterday (Friday) midday, Barbara McMullen's Sidekick, a smart phone developed by Danger and marketed with the T-Mobile Service was not receiving e-mail. This with confusing since my G1, also on the T-Mobile Service was working fine.

Early this morning, she went through the "normal maintenance proceures", pulling the battery and SIM card. all to no avail. Finally she called T-Mobile:

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
You are currently at position number 40 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 38 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 35 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 33 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 31 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 31 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 30 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 29 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 28 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 27 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 25 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 24 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 23 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 23 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 21 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 20 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 17 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 16 in the queue.
You are currently at position number 14 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 14 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 12 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 11 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 9 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 8 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 7 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 6 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 5 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 2 in the queue.
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 2 in the queue.
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 2 in the queue.
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You have been connected to _Janessa W.
_Janessa W: Hi Barbara , welcome to T-Mobile live Chat. I’m _Janessa and I will be happy to assist you. Please give me a moment to review your question.
_Janessa W: I know it is rough trying to go throughout the day with a phone that does not work properly. There is a global sidekick data outage. Our engineers are working with Danger to try to resolve the issue. We are not aware of when the services will be back of and running. We are asking everyone to give us some time to find out the problem and come up with a resolution.
Barbara McMullen: hi
Barbara McMullen: hi
Barbara McMullen: you should put it on your web site. i spent over 2 hours this morning trying to resolve the problem. i thought it was a problem local to my machine espectially since my husband's tmobile service works!!!!
_Janessa W: I did pass that information over to our manager so customers would know. Hopefully, that will be something that will be offered in the near future Barbara.
Barbara McMullen: I also spent a half hour or more waiting to get to you so, all in all, i have invested 3 hours in this problem. On the web site all you need to do is make the problem known to current users after they log on. i logged on to see if there was anything on there. nothing!
Barbara McMullen: why is my husband's google phone and email working?
_Janessa W: That is not a feature that is supported at this time. I know you must be annoyed by now. It is only the Danger network that is down at this point. No data will be able to be used.

Then she hung up on me.
----------------------------

Customer Service At Its Best

Facebook's Ugly Friends Limit and Its Unavailability for Complaint

2009-09-28T23:50:00.005-04:00

There are two problems here -- one may be major only to me and others in my situation while the other, I feel, is a major flaw in Facebook's customer support.

In reverse order, when I look to TALK (or write directly) to someone in Facebook's hierarchy, I find it impossible. One is directed to hundreds of FAQs but, if the desire is to bitch directly to management, I certainly can't find a way -- and, if I can't, after being in the business since Lincoln was president, I suspect that others have difficulty.

Now, to my particular problem -- I have 5,000 Facebook "friends", the maximum -- it sounds like a lot, huh? Actually, in my case, it's far from enough and I must have deleted over 100 Friends in the last month to make room for new ones -- and I've tried to reach someone to discuss my problem for over five months and have gotten nowhere.

Why so many friends?

I've been a journalist in the technology area for almost thirty years, writing for such publications as Computer Shopper, Newsbytes, PC Magazine, Chicago Tribune, InfoWorld, Westchester Business Journal, and many other publications that have since left the building -- over 1,500 articles, columns and news stories in all as well as a book and contributions to anthologies. In the course of this work, I have amassed many friends and profession contacts who I wish to keep in touch with and have brought quite a few to Facebook.
I've been a college professor for much of that time, twenty-five years, teaching multi-hundred students per year. Many of the students and academic contacts are now on Facebook, a substantial number due to my encouragement, and, once again, we wish to keep in touch here.
I administer five Ning-based Social networks, comprised of almost 2,000 members, many of whom have also come here at my suggestion, participated and brought more folks "to the dance".
I administer four fairly large e-mail mailing lists with over 1,000 members and am a member of many other large ones (including Dave Farber's "Interesting People" list which numbers over 25,000) and have encouraged those folks to join Facebook.
I have three published books of poetry (available on Amazon -- search on John F. McMullen) and belong to a number of the poetry groups here as well as Internet poetry mailing lists and and it makes sense to have friendships here with these folks.
I'm active in Virtual Worlds, mainly "Second Life" but have had to delete most of those friends to make way for students and professional contacts.

There is admittedly some duplication among all these groups -- but actually not that much. The folks from my old New York City neighborhood in its 1,300 member social network tend not to be Second Lifers (most have never heard of Second Life) and my technology students tend not be in the poetry community nor in the Hudson Valley Wine Country network. Likewise, those on the social network for my local Roman Catholic parish are not duplicated anywhere within my journalism contacts. Yet all add to the Facebook population, making it both larger and more diverse in interests.

I'll appreciate any ideas that folks have in contacting Facebook priests or cardinals to discuss the matter (send them to johnmac13@gmail.com, please).

PS -- does anyone know why the Facebook spellchecker doesn't recognize "Facebook"?

Gandhian Platitudes.

2009-09-22T21:31:00.002-04:00

A Facebook friend, an NYU Professor, had this quote on her Facebook wall:

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi

I disagree and posted a response:

"The Gandhi quote is nonsense -- India protects its cows and has a higher % of its population in abject poverty than China or the US. Animals should certainly be treated well (I have cats, turtles, and have had birds, fish, etc. -- I'm an animal person) .. but, first, we measure a nation by the way it treats its population."

Either he didn't really say that (I checked Snopes and can't find an indication that he didn't) or we over-sanctify the man.

Visit to the Orthopedist -- A Poem

2009-09-22T14:06:00.002-04:00

Visit To The Orthopedist
(an old basketball buddy)
By johnmac

We begin with x-rays,
pelvis and hips,
and then we sit down to talk
about the pains in my hips
.. about the pains in my thighs
….about the pains in my knees
……about the pains in my calves
……..about the pains in my shins.

and it’s decided:
1. I should have a new bed (it won’t happen; my wife loves this one).
2. I have arthritis in my knees and stairs will continue to be a bitch.
3. I have a very weak right ankle.
4. I have something called “piriformis syndrome” -- therapy and exercise are called for.
5. Some of the various conditions are probably caused by back problems related to compression of the back.

“How old are you?”
“Soon to be seventy”
“Well, these things happen
as you get older. you’re probably
shorter than you were. That’s
part of the back problem. Measure
yourself”.

I don’t feel shorter and I’m still
a good deal taller than most of my
friends – hell, maybe they are shorter too!

So it looks like I’m in for E&E
--- Exercise and Endure!

As I leave, he smiles and says
“That’s what you get after years of abuse”

I guess the body isn’t warranted
for more than 100,000 jump shots.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Remembrances -- A Poem

2009-09-21T17:17:00.001-04:00

Remembrance of Fallen Heroes
By johnmac

On Saturday, I went to the annual
“Remembrance of Fallen Heroes”
gathering held in Inwood Park,
a tribute to the twenty-three
“First Responders” from Inwood
who died on 9/11.

While there was sadness in the
memory of the uncalled for deaths,
there was joy in the camaraderie
of the assemblage.

It is what we do best –
caring for those we know well
-- for those we hardly know
--- and for those we didn’t know at all,
all tied together by our Inwood heritage.

Yet, we hear platitudes at times like this
as well as at Michael Jackson and
Jim Carroll’s funeral – about how
these people “will be remembered forever”.

They won’t be!
Most of us have no clue what
our great grandparents did while alive.
We rarely dwell on the sacrifices that
the dead of the Civil War, Great Wars,
or Korea made for us. The heroes of
9/11 will share the same fate.

No – they won’t be remembered forever
so it is very good that we remember them now!

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Remembrance of 9/11 Fallen Heroes -- 2009

2009-09-20T22:48:00.002-04:00

I was at the 2009 version of Inwood's "Remembrance of Fallen Heroes" gathering this past Saturday (September 19th). This one was the first one held on Inwood Park's "Island" (actually a peninsula now; it was once an island and part of the Bronx but is now connected to the northern tip of Manhattan Island) -- previous ones had been held about five blocks away in Isham Park (that location was much closer to Apartment Houses and the locals preferred not to have to listen to the music and worry about a clean-up). I preferred the new location because of its proximity to both the wonderful Indian Road Cafe and the restrooms in the adjacent Nature Center.

On this beautiful sunny day, there were multi-hundred Inwoodites in attendance (it was difficult for me estimate the actual number; I'd say somewhere between three hundred and five hundred -- but that's a big range). There were tee-shirts, sweat shirts and hats sold with the proceeds going to a fund for the families of the twenty-three Inwoodite First Responders who lost their lives on 9/11.

It was a particularly pleasurable afternoon for me because in addition to spending time with some old friends -- Jim Casey, Maura and Kevin McLoughlin, Dennis Blakeley, Roberta McHale, Tom Hanlon, Harry Gorman, Joe Kivelahan, and others -- I was able to meet a number whom I have only known from on-line connections through the Inwood Mailing List and / or the Inwood Social Network -- Mary Pollak and her sister, Joan (on Joan's birthday), John Lupo and Filomena Ciarla (who drove in from Vermont), Chuck Mora (who came all the way from Nova Scotia), and Gerri Zaiko.

There was some bittersweetness in the day as conversations focused on Jim Carroll's recent death, the fight of a friend to "stay clean" following a rehab stint (she had been clean for 10 years before a recent relapse) and the tragic death of a six year-old grandchild of a close friend. These conversations had a bright side, however, as they showed the real feeling by the natives of God's Country (Inwood) for others from the neighborhood -- even for folks they have only met on-line or just heard about.

It was a wonderful way to spend the last Saturday of the summer.

Two Obscene (?) Poems

2009-09-15T13:55:00.002-04:00

In Praise of “The Love Book”
By johnmac

In 1966, Stolen Paper Editions,
a San Francisco publisher,
published (that’s what publishers do)
Lenore Kandell’s “The Love Book”,
a small book containing only 4 poems
(or 2, depending on how you count).

In November of that year,
San Francisco police raided two bookstores,
“The Psychedelic Shop” and the famous
“City Lights Bookstore”.
The police considered the book obscene
and told one of the book stores’ employees
that its sale “excites lewd thoughts”.

That statement may have been based
on a reading of the short book or by simply
taking one of the titles, “To Fuck With Love”
as evidence of obscenity (Actually, there are
three poems -- “To Fuck With Love Phase I”,
“To Fuck With Love Phase II”, and
“To Fuck With Love Phase III” – that may
be considered one or three poems. Hence the
count problem).

The subsequent obscenity trial became the
longest running trial in San Francisco history,
up to that time, and, in 1967, the obscenity
conviction was upheld and the book was banned.

In 1974, the Federal District Court overturned the
conviction and the ban was lifted – but no new
edition of the book was published until 2003
(I have #438 of a limited edition of 500).

The “offensive words” in the book
(not offensive to me) are “cock”, “cunt”
and “fuck” (I guess that under that law
this poem would have been banned!).

As one might expect, the censors
missed the real point of the poems
(but censors usually do, I guess).

The first poem, ”God/Love Poem”,
sets the tone of the whole short book
-- when we fuck with love, it is a holy
experience (my words)
“love touches love
the temple and the god
are one” (her words)
and
“my GOD the worship that is to fuck”
and
“sacred the beautiful fuck.”

Obscene?
The book is a prayer and we should
all be lucky enough to be
of the faithful.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen
-------------------------------------------

Balls??
By johnmac

Anne McNaughton wrote a poem
in 1988 entitled “& Balls”.
She is an accomplished poet and
the poem is very well crafted,
so well-crafted that it appears in a
poetry anthology edited by
Robert Bly, James Hillman, &
Michael Meade.*

The well crafted poem is about
the subject (Anne herself?)’s
fixating on men’s balls –
their nuts, testes, rocks –
whatever you want to call them.

She imagines how they look,
how they would feel to her fingers.
She envisions them swinging
between legs with the cock
as “a diversion, a masthead overlarge.”

It is a very good poem, evocative ..
BUT, had I written a poem about cunts,
a poem that made it seem that the first
thing I think of when seeing a woman
is her cunt, I would have been vilified.
I would have been de-humanzing women,
making them simply sex objects.

“I wonder if she’s really a redhead”
“Hmm .. I wonder if she’s shaved ..
or sculptured, or natural”

How would people think of me if they
thought this was how my mind worked?
Would Anne herself think I was “a real pig?”
Yet, her poem may make the admission of
such thoughts acceptable in polite society.
I wonder if she’s really a redhead.

* “The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology”, 1993 (ISBN 978-0-06-092420-1)

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Comments are welcome.

Jim Carroll, RIP

2009-09-14T17:27:00.002-04:00

Jim Carroll, RIP
By johnmac

September 14, 2009

Jim Carroll, poet and rocker, is dead.
I have read most of his poetry and
am saddened that his skill has been
taken from us. We have lost a voice.

He was also from my old neighborhood,
Inwood, the garden spot of upper Manhattan,
and deepens the sadness – even greater
because, although I didn’t know him
personally, many of my friends did
and they now mourn him so I am
further saddened.

He was also younger than I am and,
when you’re in your sixties, death is
a scary son-of-a-bitch,

But, most of all, I am sad because Jim
taught me something and I never had
a chance to meet him and say “Thanks”.

In my youth, our sins were drinking and
smoking. Anyone who used illegal narcotics
were either “dope fiends” (a popular expression
at the time) or musicians. Our fathers drank
and both of our parents smoked. This was
being grown up!

So we, as “kids” did dumb things.
I started smoking at twelve (12!),
drinking beer in the park at 14 or 15
and in bars at 16 – the legal age in
New York was eighteen (18) at the
time so we could start younger.

These “dumb things” of our youth
killed some of us – cirrhosis of the
liver; lung cancer – and led some to
AA. Many said they would “drink
until they died” - and they did.

(Personal Note – My freshman year
in college, I was a BB major
(“Beer and Basketball”) and my
stellar performance entitled me to
a position on “The Dean’s Other List”
I turned it around a good deal but still
spent the next many years with my
jump shot and the bar stool having a
very high level of importance).

But we weren’t fucking junkies!
We were better than that!
Or so we thought.

It was only after I left the Inwood
scene that illegal narcotics really
hit the neighborhood.

Jim’s “Basketball Diaries” was
a revelation. Here was a young man
who loved to read and loved basketball
(hey, that’s me) …. and did drugs.

Why? Because he was just as dumb as
we were at his age and the only drugs
that we had available were nicotine and
alcohol. When he hit our age, he had another
choice – and he took it – as I might have.

“Wait”, you say. “Drugs are illegal.
There is a difference!”
Psst – it was illegal to be drinking
eighteen cans of beer in the park at 17;
it was illegal to jump over the subway
turnstiles. It was illegal to sit in “Erin’s
Isle” at 17, on my tenth beer,
Dumb kids do dumb things.

Dumb kids do dumb things – and some
change as they get older and hopefully
smarter – and some don’t. According
to most, Jim did change. He had success;
the making of “Basketball Diaries” into a
movie brought him great publicity.

and his book helped me understand and
I thank him for that. I thank him for
writing about “God’s Country” (Inwood)
and I thank him for sharing his talent
with all of us.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

The Internet As An Intelligent Forum

2009-09-12T20:34:00.002-04:00

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

I just got into what I thought was an intellectual discussion (over something I thought was nonsense) with one of my oldest friends after he forwarded the following to me and many other folk:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMERICA NEEDS A CANDIDATE WITH THIS PLATFORM!!

I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN THE
YEAR 2012..
HERE IS MY PLATFORM:

(1). Any use of the phrase: Press 1 for English' is
immediately banned. English is the official language; speak it
or wait outside of our borders until you can.

(2). We will immediately go into a two year isolationist attitude
in order to straighten out the greedy big business posture in this
country. America will allow NO imports, and we'll do no exports.
We will use the 'Wal-Mart 's policy, 'If we ain't got it, you
don't need it.' We'll make it here and sell it here!

(3).. When imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it
coming in here.

(4). All retired military personnel will be required to man one of
the many observation towers located on the southern border of the
United States (six month tour). They will be under strict orders not
to fire on SOUTHBOUND aliens.

(5). Social Security will immediately return to its original state.
If you didn't put nuttin in, you ain't gettin nuttin out. Neither
the President nor any other politician will be able to touch it.

(6). Welfare. -- Checks will be handed out on Fridays, at the
end of the 40 hour school week, the successful completion of a
urinalysis test for drugs, and passing grades.

(7). Professional Athletes -- Steroids? The FIRST time you check
positive you're banned from sports ... for life.

(8). Crime - We will adopt the Turkish method, i.e., the first
time you steal, you lose your right hand. There is no more 'life
sentences'. If convicted of murder, you will be put to death by the
same method you chose for the victim you killed: gun, knife,
strangulation, etc.

(9).. One export of ours will be allowed: wheat; because the
world needs to eat. However, a bushel of wheat will be the exact
price of a barrel of oil.

(10). All foreign aid, using American taxpayer money, will
immediately cease and the saved money will help to pay off the
national debt and, ultimately, lower taxes. When disasters occur
around the world, we'll ask The American People if they want to
donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can make the decision as
to whether, or not, it's a worthy cause.

(11).. The Pledge of Allegiance will be said every day at
school and every day in Congress.

(12). The National Anthem will be played at all appropriate
ceremonies, sporting events, outings, etc.

My apology is offered if I've stepped on anyone's toes ..... nevertheless......

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Sincerely, Bill Cosby
Please forward this to everyone you know, no matter which side of the
fence they're on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to being, in my judgement, pure drivel that is economically unsound (the "Buy Only American" would drive consumer prices up the wall and we don't have factories to build television sets or many other things made abroad) , morally corrupt (we don't cut off peoples' hands here, nor should we). and just plain silly ("the keep non-English speakers out until they learn the language" would, if implemented in past times, have kept Italians, Germans, Poles, most Jews, etc. out of the US and also does not recognize that Puerto Ricans who only speak Spanish have been US citizens from birth), this passage was obviously not written by the thoughtful articulate Bill Cosby. I think that this should have been obvious -- but, if not, validation of Snopes would have shown the passage to be bogus (as it did when I checked it).

It has long been my contention that a person is responsible for everything that he or she sends out on the Internet and, if it is material that is being forwarded, he or she must authenicate it (Snopes is one way to do this). So I had two problems with the "Bill Cosby platform" -- it wasn't from Bill Cosby (but from someone who did not have the nerve to put her / his name on the material but would slander Cosby by attributing it to him) and it was simplistic nonsense.

I said as much in a reply to my friend -- and also to all of the people who he copied on the message sent to me. After another exchange about the piece, he sent me a note, writing "I regret that you have chosen to chide and correct me in front of an audience of my friends. It sends me a clearer message than you can imagine".

It was not my intention to sandbag him in front of his friends or embarrass him. I told him in a reply that, since he had sent it to me and the immediate world, I thought that the message was opewn to public debate. I did not want to hurt his feeling nor jeopardize our friendship -- but I also feel very strongly that the Internet is neither for dishonesty nor silliness masquerading as commentary. To not respond in such a manner would have been in my mind acquiescing to a person not taking responsibility for material disseminated under her / his name and, as such would have been intellectually dishonest on my part.

So I feel intellectually secure in my action yet emotionally upset that I hurt a close friend's feelings.

5:45 Saturday (9/12/09) Morning - Up & Out

2009-09-12T05:46:00.002-04:00

A number of quasi-related items:

Today is the last day of the first week of the Fall Semester. I have an 8:45 class in Wireless Technology, the next to last "first day" of my seven courses (rough semester); I have two sections of "Introduction to Spreadsheets"; and one section of "Introduction to DataBase Systems", "Telecommunications", "Management Information Systems", and "Senior Seminar" (our capstone course in the School of Information Technology here at Monroe College). It promises to be a challenging and rewarding semester -- even more rewarding because two of my former students beginning teaching this semester as adjunct professors, bringing the total to five former students teaching at Monroe (all with Masters degrees and three enrolled in PhD programs).
It has been a challenging few weeks in the Medical areas. The lovely Barbara McMullen was stricken with an occasional "blind spot" in her right eye a few weeks ago and, in attempting to determine which of the many possible reasons for this affliction, has visited our normal "eye doctor", a retina specialist, our internist, a neuro specialist, and our optometrist. The bottom line appears to be that she has "occular-migraines" (migraines that manifest themselves as eye problems rather than headaches). While this is an annoying condition that will be somewhat difficult to control, the alternative possibilities could have been much worse.
I just read Amber Tamblyn's "Bang Ditto", the former Joan of Arcardia's second collection of poetry. It is fresh, funny, and "in-your-face". One poem, directed at a former lover. contains such lines as "I'd sleep with all your friends .. if you had any", "Do your future children a favor, don't have any", and the wonderful "You put the 'you' back in 'fuck you'". I loved it.
Speaking of poetry, I've been posting a good deal of it in Facebook's "Faces of Poetry" group. Check it out -- you should all be on Facebook, anyhow.

Ok -- off I go. If you have a business in the New York Metropolitan area and wish to provide wireless access for customers, send me email (johnmac13@gmail.com) -- my students may be available to provide free technical assistance for you.

Brandon James Blakeley (April 25, 2003 - August 26th, 2009) -- and Dennis

2009-08-31T04:18:00.005-04:00

With all that has been going on in the last week (away for a few days, doctor's appointments, Ted Kennedy's death, etc) , I did not see until just now that Dennis Blakeley (one of the stalwarts on the Inwood Social Network, a group that has over 1,000 members)'s grandson, Brandon James Blakeley, died at the age of 6 after rejecting a heart he had received in the early months of his life (link for members of the social network). Dennis is a good personal friend but is also considered a "good friend" to members of the network who have never met him personally. He constantly exhibits the reaching out to people in their time of need that was just referred to as Ted Kennedy's greatest virtue by his friends.

In an attempt to comfort Dennis, Gerri Zaiko posted a poem by James Whitcomb Riley on the network:

He is just away
by James Whitcomb Riley

You cannot say, you must not say
That he is dead. He is just away!
With a cheery smile and a wave of the hand
He has wandered into unknown land
And left us dreaming how very fair
It needs must be, since he lingers there;
So think of him faring on, as dear
In the love of There as the love of Here,
Think of him still the same, and say
He is not dead, he is just away.....

It is a beautiful poem and brings a sad smile to my face. I still wonder, however, "why" -- WHY?

Why some are taken so young and others -- like us -- are given a second (or third or fourth) chances as we go on -- a chance to straighten out -- do better -- do more -- care more. It seems to me that Brandon's untimely death (hell, all deaths are "untimely") should give us pause to look at our own lives to see what we can do make things better. That is Brandon's gift to us.

--- and, Dennis, we love you.

Speaking of Teddy .. and Inwood

2009-08-30T21:28:00.001-04:00

From the Facebook "Faces of Poetry" Group:

Teddy Could Drink In Inwood
By johnmac

Ted Kennedy was rich
Ted Kennedy was a United States Senator
Ted Kennedy made great personal mistakes
Ted Kennedy was known for his drinking
and, in the end, little of this mattered.

Ted Kennedy’s Memorial and Funeral
dwelt little on some of these points
(and not-at-all on the rest)
because these were not the essence
of Ted Kennedy.

What people focused on was
what Ted Kennedy did for others.
He called everyone in Massachusetts
… who have family that died on “9/11”
… who had family that died in Iraq and Afghanistan
He got Joe Biden through the tragic loss of his wife
He took all of the Kennedy children
as his own personal responsibility
… and the stories went on and on,
each portraying Edward Moore Kennedy
as a “stand-up guy”

A “stand-up guy” is an expression
from the old neighborhood,
Inwood, Manhattan, New York City;
One of the highest compliments
that could be paid.

A “stand-up guy” instinctively
“did the right thing”; a “stand-up guy”
knew what “the right thing” was.
The right thing for Teddy was:
... sitting with Joe Biden when his wife died;
… coming to hear Chris Dodd give a difficult eulogy;
… keeping JFK Jr.’s body company on the recovery boat;
… calling Joe Scarborough to offer help in a family crisis;
… stepping in as the Patriarch of the family after the assignations;
… getting his cancer savaged son to walk up a hill to sled down again;
… making the awful calls to commiserate with families of dead heroes
… and so much more with so many!
(unsaid is the memory of him once not doing the right thing).

Teddy was a stand-up guy and
he would have been welcome in an Inwood Bar!

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Compassion

2009-08-30T21:04:00.002-04:00

So many of the Memorial and Funeral comments about Ted Kennedy's life dwelt on his personal kindness, out of the public view, to individuals rather than his political accomplishments. Kennedy participated in over 1,000 bills with over 300 bearing his name and friends and political foes alike speak of him as one of the "greatest senators of all-time". Yet it was the small personal things he did that were the anecdotes that were constantly brought up by those who remembered him affectionately -- and there were thousands that did.

This quality of caring for friends and acquaintances in times of need and the necessary outreaching of empathy and sympathy has been evidenced in the concern and caring shown for a friend of mine from the "old neighborhood" and the Internet who, after 10 years of sobriety, "fell off the wagon" and is now finishing a rehab stint. The support and love that out poured for her was heart-warming and represented, in no small way, the overall closeness that bonded the graduates of the little piece of Heaven at the top of Manhattan Island, NYC -- "Inwood". As my friend, Tom Hanlon says, when speaking of another Inwood alum, "he's on the team" -- and we care about our teammates!

Paradoxically, the only one who has behaved as an unfeeling judgemental with is the woman's twenty-year younger step-sister (whom she wasn't aware of until two weeks ago -- it's possible that this surprise was "the trigger).

We remember the towering deeds of people from the history books because that is all we know about them but those people whom we know from experience, no matter how large they stand in the world, we remember because of our personal interaction. It is the yardstick by which we measure people and, once again, I see Inwood folk (most of whom I have never met) coming out at the head of the class.

Teddy

2009-08-26T18:29:00.003-04:00

(johnmac -- This and other of my poetry may be found on the Facebook group "Faces of Poetry")

August 26, 2009 - 2AM

By johnmac

Three brothers died for their country;
the fourth lived for his country.

Joe was the young prince
taken in combat;
Jack excited a new generation
and was murdered,
we still know not why;
Bobby, felled as he was
ready for the throne,
is the “what-might have been”;
and Teddy lived and served,
a monument to his brothers,
accomplishing more than they.

He showed us terrible weaknesses
yet always pressed on, growing
from the smiled at to the pitied
to the reviled to the “Liberal Lion”.

Bobby eulogized Jack;
Teddy eulogized Bobby.
Who will eulogize Teddy?
All of us, I hope.

For over forty-five years,
he tried to make his country
a better place for all.
He gave much more
than he had to
for his family
his state
his country.

It became obvious
more than thirty years ago
that he would never be president.
Most would have packed it in
and gone home.
Instead he gave more than ever.

Until tonight
when he finally did
“go home".

Thanks, Ted
We owe you.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Subtle Slanderous Attack

2009-08-18T01:41:00.004-04:00

A day or two ago, I wrote on the efforts of Professor Elizabeth Wood and others to convince the Rhode Island Legislature to maintain the present law on "solicitation" that allow off-the-street prostitution. I also wrote on the personal attacks on Professor Wood and her colleagues.

Since that posting, I have come across an article in Human Events on this subject by Dr. Judith Reisman which I feel, through innuendo and fuzzy writing, boarders on slander to Professor Wood and those who support her. In the article, "Reisman vs. Rhode Island" Dr. Reisman, best known for her opposition to all things Kinsey (the work of Alfred Kinsey -- her most recent book is "Kinsey, Crimes & Consequences — The Red Queen and the Grand Scheme"), uses a very brush, linking Dr. Wood and the others with any group, no matter how far out, that advocates change in present public positions on sex. After quoting Doctor Wood (and introducing to the piece as "Herr Weitzer’s ally, Elizabeth Wood" -- a reference to Ronald Weitzer, an advocate of decriminalization, a blatant, in my view, attempt to brandish him as a "Nazi"), Reisman moves rapidly to an attack on the he Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) in San Francisco which, she says, "would legalize prostitution of adults and children as well as sadism and other forms of pathological sexual conduct." (I have been to the IASHS web site and, in a cursory glance, saw nothing that advocated sadism).

Moving right along, after linking the signers of the letter to the IASHS, Reisman writes "the new sexologists 'would legalize adult child sex, incest, child prostitution, and child pornography, providing that such practices are purportedly “consensual.'”. So, in other words, if you think that it's ok for a man or a woman to pay to get laid in Rhode Island, you support incest and pedophilia. This is not only spurious reasoning, it is, in my judgement, slanderous.

There are valid points of debate about both the Rhode Island Law and prostitution in general but Dr. Reisman's fuzzy logic is not worthy of a PhD and her personal attack is not worthy of an educated human being.

A Long Month ...

2009-08-16T16:32:00.003-04:00

The months of July and early August 2009 were as full of frenzied and high pressured activities as any recent time in Jefferson Valley -- some very sad incidents, some joyous.

There were:

End of Semester Activities, Final Examinations, Grading, and Grade Postings at Monroe College.
Book Signing at Coogan's Restaurant in Manhattan with Mary Elizabeth Williams, Don Wortzman, and George Hopkins.
Two Wakes and Funerals -- our close friend, Mary McGloin, and Margie Wortzman's mother.
Onset of Barbara McMullen's as-yet-undiagnosed vision problem,
Reading of Poetry from "Writing In My Head" at August's "Rising of the Moon" concert and jam session at the Stadium Restaurant in Garrison, NY.
Preparation of course material for my upcoming semester at Monroe and Barbara's at Bard College, Iona College (my alma mater), and Westchester Community College (she is a Visiting Professor at Bard and an Adjunct at the others).
Revitalization of my Motor Scooter, quasi-totalled in my confrontation with the front of a woman's car in June (she hit me from beyond).
Preparation for and publicity of upcoming (August 22nd) talk on "Publishing-On-Demand" and book signing at Lola's Tea House (details below).
Writing and Editing for new projects,

-- very little time for vacation healing rest.

I had planned to catch up with the blog every day but other life events kept getting in the way. A case in point was last night when I came home, planning to write about a number of things -- and found that the wireless network was down. It took me over three hours on the phone with first Cablevision and then Linksys to identify that the router had stopped broadcasting wirelessly (the VoIP telephone connection worked fine as its connection to the router was Ethernet-wired) and turn the system over to a Linksys technician to correct remotely (for a $9.99 fee).

It finally took my interest in the Rhode Island legislation controversy, written about in the last post, that got me to sit down and write -- something I must do more often to justify the costs incurred by my Kindle subscribers.

Come one, come all to:

Talk on "Publishing on Demand" and Book Signing

Date:	Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time:	1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:	Lola's Tea House
Street:	130 Fifth Avenue
City/Town:	Pelham, NY

Phone:	914 738-2100
Email:	johnmac13@gmail.com

John McMullen, Susan Berliner, George Hopkins, and Don Wortzman will be in Pelham on August 22nd for a talk on "Publishing On Demand" and book signings of their respective books.

Bios:

Susan Berliner has been a non-fiction writer for nearly her entire career, including a twenty-year stint as promotion manager for the Yorktown PennySaver, a large Hudson Valley chain of shopping guides. After beginning as a newspaper reporter for Fairchild Publications, she switched to freelance writing—mainly in education—publishing several book series dealing with editing skills, language arts, and standardized testing, and creating teachers' guides for Reader's Digest. She also freelanced as a reporter for the North County News, a Yorktown Heights, NY weekly. “Dust”, a newly-published supernatural thriller, is her first novel. A graduate of Queens College, she lives in Yorktown Heights with her husband, Larry, where she is writing her third book. She may be reached at sberlinerbooks@optonline.net.

George Hopkins has taught at DeWitt Clinton H.S., St. John’s University, Middlesex College, Columbia Teachers College, as an Exchange Teacher in Puerto Rico and at Susan Wagner High School, where he was Chairperson of English. He was twice named “Teacher of the Year” by the New York Association of Teachers. He has also has led writing workshops for Poets and Writers, the Noble Maritime Museum, and the Community Agency for Senior Citizens and has won awards for poetry, writing, community service, and television production, including recognition by NY 1 as a “New Yorker of the Week” for his 10 year work coordinating a Senior Citizens Poetry Contest and Festival on Staten Island. He is a graduate of Iona College and holds a Master’s Degree from The City College of New York. His recently published mystery suspense novel, “Collateral Consequences,” is a sequel to the previously published “Blood Brothers.” He was born in Brooklyn, NY, raised in the Bronx, lives on Staten Island with his wife Diane, and is the father of four children and the grandfather of eight. He may be reached at Greh322531@aol.com.

John F. McMullen is a poet, author, journalist, technologist, college professor, consultant, and denizen of cyberspace. He is a graduate of Iona College and holds two Masters degrees from Marist College. He was an executive of Wall Street firms, an officer of three consulting firms, and has taught at NYU, The New School for Social Research, Marist College, Westchester Community College, and Monroe College (where he is presently Professor of Information Technology). The title poem of his first poetry collection, "Cashing A Check," won third place in the 2009 Writer's Place National Poetry Contest. “Cashing A Check” was followed by his second collection, "Writing In My Head," and the chapbook, “With A Chip On My Shoulder.” He is the co-author of a book on telecommunications, the author of over 1,500 news stories, articles, columns, and academic papers, and the editor of “Web 2.0 The Magazine.” He is a native of the Inwood section of Manhattan Island and resides in Jefferson Valley, NY, with his wife Barbara E. McMullen, an educator and entrepreneur. He may be reached at johnmac13@gmail.com

Don Wortzman, an ex-IBM engineer, has presented original research papers on various technical subjects at major scientific conferences, including those sponsored by The New York Academy of Sciences, The Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, The Numerical Control Society, and The Eastern Joint Computer Conference. He holds a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from City College of New York, a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, and has completed coursework toward a Ph.D. in Mathematics at New York University. His new book, “Daughters of Ishtar,” a suspense thriller, is a departure from his first book, “The Gyroverse,” a non-fiction work based on an original theory that unifies all physics. He lives in Carmel, NY, with his wife Marge. He may be reached at wortzman@gmail.com.

For those who cannot attend and enjoy the ambiance of Lola's and the wisdom (?) of the authors, the books are available:
Blood Brothers -- www.xlibris.com/BloodBrothers.html
Cashing A Check -- https://www.createspace.com/3368820
Collateral Consequences -- www.xlibris.com/CollateralConsequences.html
Daughters of Ishtar -- http://tinyurl.com/lch2nb
Dust -- http://www.susanberliner.com/index.php?page_id=236
The Gyroverse -- http://tinyurl.com/nbnozj
With A Chip On My Shoulder -- https://www.createspace.com/3387258
Writing In My Head -- https://www.createspace.com/3387759

Sex and Sanity In A Non-Taliban Nation.

2009-08-16T13:48:00.004-04:00

I was reading Professor Elizabeth Wood's blog (she is one contributor), "Sex In The Public Square", this morning and was dismayed (not really -- but I wish I was dismayed) to find that she has been under personal attack for signing, with many other academics, a "Letter to Members of the Rhode Island State Legislature", asking the state legislature to refrain from passing a low to criminalize indoor non-street solicited prostitution (The letter explains "Rhode Island is currently the only state in the U.S. without a statute expressly prohibiting prostitution. State law bans loitering in public places, which is used to arrest street prostitutes, but does not ban solicitation itself, which leaves the indoor trade untouched because no loitering is involved.").

One may certainly have issues with the practice of prostitution, even think it is morally reprehensible, but does not mean it should be illegal. I think personally that sex should be between two consenting adults (of any gender) who have to same understanding and goal of the particular act -- expression of love, mutual pleasure, whatever (in other words, no duplicity, cohesion, or force). Others may feel that it should only be between people of opposite genders, or in marriage, or to have children, or on the Wednesday after the full moon -- that's all fine -- as long as it's not the law.

In recent years, we have seen, in places where the law and personal morality (really imposed morality) are mixed, people condemned to death for converting to Christianity or becoming pregnant out-of-wedlock (she maintained that she was raped -- the religious court said "so?"), a father excused for murder of a daughter because she 'dishonored the family", and a court-ordered gang-rape of a girl who was considered to have behaved in an "unseemly manner".

While all of these examples may seem extreme in the context of the United States experience, we should remember that we have had, in the recent 20th Century, laws in various jurisdictions against the sale of contraceptives, fornication, the sale of liquor (prohibition), the sale of liquor and beer during "Sunday Church Hours" (the Jewish and Muslim Sabbaths weren't considered as important), interracial marriage, and sodomy. The mixture of morality and law is a slippery slope.

Some say that "decriminalization" is the same as "condoning", even "advocating". This is, in my judgement, another spurious argument. Very few people (at least those in their right minds) "advocate" smoking. Yet it is legal and we tax it and we maintain standards for ingredients and labeling. I personally think that casino gambling is dumb and can be addictive but I do not recommend banning them and sending gambling back into the cellars, numbers rooms, and criminal-sponsored gambling dens.

I'm also not "an evangelist for prostitution" -- I see the act as demeaning to the beauty of the sexual act as I described it above ("between two consenting adults (of any gender) who have to same understanding and goal of the particular act") -- for one party, it is simply the act of "getting off"; for the other, it is an act of commerce. Yet, I realize that this view is certainly not shared by everyone; that my understanding of sexuality and its purpose differs from many, if not most (and certainly from the prostitute and her / his clients), and that I have no right, even if I wished to do so, to impose my view on others. So -- decriminalize it, tax it, inspect it, etc.

All I have done so far is to express my support for the position of the academics; what may be even more important is to condemn the personal attacks on Professor Wood and her cosigners. All too much, the vehicle for disagreement seems to have become the attacking of the opponent's motives, sanity, patriotism, and character, rather than finding fault with the ideas and policies that the opponent supports. In days of memory, some of the most passionate proponents of points of view -- such as John Kenneth and William F. Buckley, Jr. -- would debate vehemently and then go off for a drink together or a skiing weekend. We seem to have lost that -- the respect for humans who may disagree with us on certain issues but are still worthy of respect as human beings.

Other Writers With Inwood Roots

2009-07-20T14:46:00.004-04:00

I knew about a number of other writers with roots in Inwood, Manhattan Island, New York City (what we natives call "God's Country"):

Arthur Daley -- famed sports columnist of the New York Times. the first sports writer to win a Pulitzer Prize

Robert Daley -- Arthur's son, a former NYPD Deputy Commissiner, novelist, and writer of non-fiction

Jim Carroll -- poet and musician, author of "The Basketball Diaries"

James Carroll -- novelist and non-fiction writer who "did time" in Good Shepherd while a Paulist priest. His most recent book, "Practicing Catholic" is in the bookstores now (and received a good review from Tom Hanlon on Saturday art our book event)

.. but I hadn't realized that Dennis Driscoll had written short stories about the neigborhood and set them to music until he e-mailed me the following after my book signing: "I'm sorry I missed the event. I write short stories about growing up in Inwood, soft of "in the vein of Jim Carroll". Instead of trying to get them published, I recorded them -- me reading them, set to music -- and then put a CD out. I have sold about 500 copies to date."

Dennis' CD is available at his web site.

Post-Signing Depression (and Joy)!

2009-07-19T21:03:00.003-04:00

Our four-author talk, book signing & sale at Coogan's Restaurant yesterday, July 18th, was both disappointing and quite enjoyable. It was disappointing because we had a very limited audience -- a good deal less than I had expected and less than had said that they would be there -- and quite enjoyable because of both the chemistry among the authors, George Hopkins, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Don Wortzman, and myself and the discussions that we had with the folks who did show up -- we even sold a few books (very few).

Coogan's is a terrific place -- up the block from New York Presbyterian Hospital at 169th street and Broadway in Manhattan -- the food was excellent and Dave Hunt, another Inwood lad, was a wonderful host. Among the faithful members of the team known to me who did put in an appearance were Kevin Buckley, my absolute oldest friend (and the author of a recent "Daily Beast" piece on Robert McNamera); Tom Hanlon, the de-facto Mayor of Inwood, who brightens our days by "just showing up" at so many events that one tends to expect him at every possible thing; Terrence J. Sughrue, another Inwood lad and confidant and my "long-time political advisor"; and Welles Whitted, Monroe College Professor and a former colleague of Barbara McMullen's from her time as Monroe's Dean of OnLine Learning.

Each of the group gave a short talk, explaining how she / he came to be here with the book(s) but, mostly, we just "hung out", ate, and planned what we might do to have future (and greater attended) programs. After getting to know each of the authors better and listening to their talks, I even more strongly recommend the purchase of their work (as well as my own, of course). Further information of the individual books may be found at Amazon as well as the individual book sites (even better for the writers):

Blood Brothers (GH) -- www.xlibris.com/BloodBrothers.html
Cashing A Check (JM) -- www.createspace.com/3368820
Collateral Consequences (GH) -- www.xlibris.com/CollateralConsequences.html
Daughters of Ishtar (DW) -- tinyurl.com/lch2nb
Gimme Shelter (MEW) -- www.indiebound.org/book/9781416557081
The Gyroverse (DW) -- tinyurl.com/nbnozj
With A Chip On My Shoulder (JM) -- www.createspace.com/3387258
Writing In My Head (JM) -- www.createspace.com/3387759

GH - George Hopkins; JM -- johnmac; MEW -- Mary Elizabeth Williams; DW - Don Wortzman

By now, they almost deserve it!

2009-07-15T16:30:00.005-04:00

(johnmac – How many time must users be warned by CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team, a government funded group) and by computer professionals not to use Internet Explorer, Outlook, or, if possible, any MS-Office program (other than Macintosh versions)? Certainly, many people do not understand that problems exist and only know about Microsoft products – but the readers of this missive should be smarter.)

Alternatives

· Operating Systems – Mac OSX and Linux. Most experts consider Mac OSX to be the superior operating system. MS Office (Mac version) runs on it (as does Open Office) and the files are transparent to MS-Office on Intel Machine. Macintosh and Linux systems are historically much more secure than Wintel Systems – both because they have better security and because they aren't as attractive to hackers. You can also, of course, run Windows on a Mac (through the use of "BootCamp", "Parallels", or VmWare – I use Parellels, which, as with VMWare, lets you run both Oss side by side; BootCamp makes you rub one-at-a-time.))

· Internet Explorer – Chrome (on Windows machines only, at the present), Flock (good if you're also into Facebook and / or Twitter as it shows view into what's going on in those systems – and others), Safari, Firefox, and Opera (very fast and you host pages from it). All but Chrome are available on both Wintel and Macintosh platforms; Facebook is also on Linux. I'm not sure about the others and Linux.

· Outlook – Eudora -- if you must keep mail on your machine (I wouldn't). G-Mail is, by far, my preference. It keeps mail (and attached virus) off your computer. I know of no break-ins there. If you're on a Linux / Unix system, Pine is fine and it keeps mail on the server.

· MS-Office – Google Documents and ZoHo are "cloud based operations" that perform many, if not most, of MS-Office functions and resulting files may be downloaded into MS-Office. The leading desktop contender, with versions for Wintel, Macintosh, and Linux, is the free open-source, "Open Office". Open Office is as powerful as MS-Office and, in some areas, has better features. The files are completely compatible with Wintel and Macintosh Office. I carry files around on my neck (on a USB on my neck) which may or may not have been created by a Mac or Linux system or in the cloud – and I don't care which one or which program (MS-Office or Open Office) wrote the file last – they all do the same.

Microsoft Office users attacked by cybercriminals

By Jim Finkle

** snip **

BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp warned that cybercriminals have attacked users of its Office software for Windows PCs, exploiting a programming flaw that the software giant has yet to repair.

The world's largest software maker issued the warning on Tuesday as it released patches to address nine other security holes in its software.

"Despite today's fixes, Windows users continue to be under attack. Microsoft is taking two steps forward, while attackers are putting it one step back," said Dave Marcus, McAfee Inc's Avert Labs director of security research.

Cybercriminals target Microsoft programs because they are so widely used, allowing them to go after the largest number of potential victims with one set of code. (Windows runs more than 90 percent of the world's PCs. Office has some 500 million users).

** snip **

Yahooism

2009-07-11T00:49:00.004-04:00

I was at Barnes and Noble this afternoon, browsing "How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future" by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (Basic Books; ISBN: 978-0-465-01305-0). When I was finished browsing, I passed it to a friend and sometime conservative intellectual adversary and he began to scan through it -- I expected him to take exception to at least parts of the book as one of the authors, Chis Mooney, had formerly written "The Republican War on Science" -- and he did not disappoint.

After a while of browsing the book, he pointed to a paragraph on page 14 that he felt was an example of a political bias in the book. The authors had written:

"To begin with, citizens of other nations don't fare much better on scientific literary surveys, and in some cases fare worse. Residents of the European Union, for instance, are less scientifically literate overall than Americans, at least according to one metric for measuring 'civic science literacy' across countries. And yet they also appear much more convinced of the reality of global warming and human evolution."

He took this passage as indicating that the authors were saying that the Europeans were "smarter" because they held theories that "many disagree with" (including him on evolution). This type of reasoning, then, makes the entire book suspect.

It took me a good while to consider this -- long after I put the book back on the shelf and left him. I initially, like him, didn't see how the Europeans could be less 'scientifically literate' but hold a views that most consider more scientifically creditable.

I now see what I think the authors were getting at and it makes sense to me (although I would have to read the book to see if I'm correct as well as seeing if he entire book is worthwhile).

First, I don't think that the consideration of human evolution is necessarily only a political theory. I know of no one (other than my friend) whose scientific knowledge that I respect who rejects evolutionary theory. Accepting evolution does not mean that one rejects the existence of God; it just means that the story that many have been told for centuries must be modified --- and may theologians have modified the story to incorporate belief with commonly accepted scientific theory (commonly accepted by scientists; not by the folks who think that world is 6,000 years old and that humans rode dinosaurs a la Alley Oop).

If human evolution is, then, a more sophisticated scientific theory, why would less scientifically literate folks hold it. I don't think it necessarily has to do with scientific reasoning; I think it has more to do with the fact that in the US, we have more of what either Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and / or H. L. Mencken referred to as "Yahoos" than the European Union has. While many tend of think of Americans as the secularized (not necessarily non-believers) sophisticates who inhabit the coasts and major cities, in fact, we have a strong culture of fundamentalists in the "Bible Belt" and other rural areas who would not even listen to explanations of evolution because "that's not what God told us he did" -- and, to them, it matters little what other supposedly "religious people" believe (many of the same folks also think that the interest in global warming is a 'Communist plot').

It seems to me (from reading rather than first-hand experience -- perhaps those of my friends who travel regularly in Europe will comment) that the Europeans are more apt to be accepting of evolutionary theory because they have a much greater degree of secularization (and, therefore, less fundamentalism), even agnosticism and atheism, in some cases, a carry over from post - World War II communism. In short, it is the culture, rather than scientific knowledge, that makes the Europeans more apt to accept scientific theory at odds with fundamentalist doctrine.

Preparing For The July 18th Book Signing

2009-07-06T01:11:00.002-04:00

Well, the plans have been laid; the flyers have been created; the books have been ordered; prices have been set; purchase forms have been drawn up; and the word has been spread. Yes, the word has been spread -- "Events" have been set up in the Google Calendar and on Facebook and LinkedIn -- and notifications sent from each to the immediate world. Notifications have been sent to the Inwood, Washington Heights / Inwood, Commonweal, Cardinal Farley, and All Hallows 56 mailing lists and on the Inwood and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Social Networks as well as local newspapers. In short, I've told everyone I can think of and probably annoyed the hell out of some.

That's a classic marketing problem -- how to get a message out there without bothering anyone -- or, more realistically, how to reach as many people as possible while annoying as few as possible.

If I didn't believe in the authors (including myself) as much as I do, I wouldn't be as frantic. If I (and Barbara McMullen) hadn't taken on the planning and the major part of the promotion, I wouldn't be as frantic. If Dave Hunt, owner of Coogan's and who certainly hopes that we we bring in some eaters and drinkers, weren't a friend, I wouldn't be as frantic.

Oh, hell -- I'd probably be frantic anyhow -- but I'm confident -- both the material and the people are very good.

Y'all come to see us now!

Saturday, July 18th 1-3 PM
Coogans's Restaurant 4015 Broadway, New York, NY 10032 212 928-1234
(at 169th Street just north on New York Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights -- just south of Inwood) -- send me e-mail (johnmac13@gmail.com) for a PDF of the flyer with complete information and author bios.
-------------------------------------------

For those who can't join us and have a great Coogan's meal, washed down with some libation, all titles are available through Amazon.com and through the following links:

Blood Brothers (GH)-- www.xlibris.com/BloodBrothers.html
Cashing A Check (JM) -- https://www.createspace.com/3368820
Collateral Consequences (GH) -- www.xlibris.com/CollateralConsequences.html
Daughters of Ishtar (DW) -- http://tinyurl.com/lch2nb
Gimme Shelter (MW) -- http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781416557081
The Gyroverse (DW) -- http://tinyurl.com/nbnozj
With A Chip On My Shoulder (JM) -- https://www.createspace.com/3387258
Writing In My Head (JM) -- https://www.createspace.com/3387759

Legend:
GH - George Hopkins
JM - John F. McMullen
MW - Mary Elizabeth Williams
DW - Don Wortzman

A Sad .. and Joyous Day

2009-07-04T01:26:00.005-04:00

Barbara and I went to Mary McGloin's funeral today. First, the funeral parlor, McGrath's in Bronxville, and, then, the church, St. Joseph's, also in Bronville, were packed by mourners -- friends of Mary from Holy Name Parish in Manhattan' of her husband, Hugh's (and my) old neighborhood, Inwood; of Hugh's from the Fire Department; of their's from Bronxville, the Catskills, and Washington; of their children; and her's from work -- and it was obvious that there was tremendous love in the air.

At the funeral, the priest, a friend of Mary's for over 40 years from Holy Name, spoke of her capacity for caring and love and tied it all in to her belief system, and then Hugh spoke more eloquently than I have ever heard him as he described his life with the woman he loved.

We then went to Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, NY, where my parents, my cousins, the parents of most of my friends, Babe Ruth, and Billy Martin are all buried and where Barbara and I will, hopefully, far in the future, join them.

From there it was back to Bronxville, to Fogerty's Restaurant for a great meal and talk. Barbara and I were at a table with Richie Shinnick; Dan Grogan, his wife, Joan O'Donnell Grogan, & their daughter; and Tom Hanlon. As anyone who knows any of us might surmise, the talk never stopped and the stories flowed one into another -- and Mary was there with us, enjoying our laughter and friendship.

I looked around the room and say friends from years past -- John Sheerin, Billy and Eddie Callahan, Neil Sullivan, and many more -- a group that I could have seen 50 years ago in Erin's Isle or the Leitrim Castle in Rockaway -- and there was the same camadarie, joking, and little digs as there would have been then. (Richie said that John Sheerin greeted him, after 40 years with "Richie Shinnick, you're still short!").

It was a joyous afternoon on a sad occasion and, when it ended, we were thankful to Mary both for the afternoon and for the privilege of knowing her.

Say a prayer for Hugh!

Blogs .. Smoking .. and Cancer

2009-07-03T00:23:00.005-04:00

I found out today that Stan Veit, my long-time editor at Computer Shopper and current partner in Web 2.0 The Magazine, pays $1.99 per month to read this blog on his Kindle. I thought that I was the only one who paid to read my blog.

I was at a wake today and, while there was talking to an old friend, who has been high up with the State Department for years. I happened to mention that Stan (who he doesn't know) was going in for an out-patient procedure to remove cancerous polups from his bladder. I had never heard of a one-day procedure for any cancer but skin cancer -- certainly not an internal cancer. I was amazed.

Richie, my State Dept. friend said "I had the same thing and it's a strange story. I had blood in my urine -- no pain -- but scary. I called my doctor and told him and he said 'It could be one of a 100 things. I'm sending you to a specialist -- by far the best in the area. He'll take care of you". So off I go to the specialist and he says 'We'll run some tests and we'll figure it out. I'll take your medical history first.' He asks me a bunch of things including 'Do you now or did you ever smoke?' I said "Yes -- for 40 years -- At least a pack a day'. He finishes the questions and says "You have bladder cancer and we can take care of it.' I go with my immediate reaction -- 'Wait a minute! My doctor said that it could be one of a hundred things and you said that you have to run some tests -- how can you now just say I have bladder cancer?' He replied 'Your doctor was right -- it could have been one of a hundred things but he hadn't seen this medical history. Every patient that I have ever seen with these symptoms who smoked has had bladder cancer.' He verified his inital diagnosis and then removed the cancer in an out patient procedure."

I had never heard about smoking and bladder cancer but when I got home tonight there was e-mail from Stan, which said in part "I will go into the hospital on July 13th for removal of cancerous polups from my bladder. This is an outpatient procedure and I will be home the same night. It is no big deal but if ignored it could become serious. This is the second time I have had it done. I asked my doctor "why me." He asked me if I smoked, I told him I had in the past but stopped 30 years ago. 'Makes no difference', he told me, 'I never see these in people who never smoked'. Interesting isn't it?."

Another reason to hate accursed cigarettes.

When I and my friends started smoking, there was before the Surgeon General's warning and Mickey Mantle was telling us in TV ads that Camels were good for our 'T-Zone' -- and shortly thereafter (if not then) the cigarette firms' leadership found out that they were selling carcinogenic goods -- and the bastards covered it up and lied to us. I said last night that the cancer victims were a "victim of their own choices" but folks from my generation did not have enough true information to make intelligent decisions about smoking. We were lied to and, when we wound out, many were too addicted to smoking to quit.

----------------------------------

The daughter of the person that I referred to in my posting last night as my "closest friend" wrote a very strong e-mail calling my note "a self-serving rant" and taking me to task for not noting that her father had, in fact, given up smoking before his untimely death. She's right -- I should have pointed that out but her implication was that I was using her father's death as a tool to promote my anti-smoking agenda -- that was not true. It was father's death that made me hate smoking and, every time I see a colleague or student smoking, I think of him and usually say something to the person.

Death Comes to the People Who Once Said "Got A Light?" STOP! NOW!

2009-07-01T16:00:00.004-04:00

This could be called "johnmac's anti-smoking rant"

Tomorrow, I will go to a wake and Friday to a funeral of a good friend (she is also the wife of a friend of sixty (60) years) who died from emphysema. Emphysema is an awful disease brought on usually by exposure to cigarette smoke or by actual smoking. When I called another friend to inform him of the death, he said "emphysema is terrible. My father died of it. At the end, when you gasp for breath, you don't know if you'll get it or die."

A few years ago, I gave the eulogy for my best friend, a victim of lung cancer (I had also, years before, given his wedding toast) -- I shouldn't say "a victim of lung cancer"; I should say "a victim of his own choices". Sometime thereafter, his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer. The medical treatment that she received was able to eliminate the cancer -- although she had a scare a few years later. I have had many other friends and parents of friends die of lung cancer -- some who had given up smoking 18 years before. One brave woman died after the cancer spread to many other area, causing painful broken bones and back problems. So many of my friends have died in this fashion that The Gate of Heaven (in Valhalla, NY) should be renamed "Marlboro Country".

Students and co-workers look at these deaths and think "these folks are all in their 50s and 60s, even 70s. I'm 42 (or 21); I have time to quit." Wrong! As I wrote above, some of these folks quit 18 years before but the damage was already done. Barbara and I each quit 29 years ago (after each being 3 1/2 packs per day smokers) and, after seeing Peter Magee, Ethel Cummings, and Gloria Arco each contract fatal lung cancer after years of non-smoking, I still worry that the damage done to our lungs in our smoking years will catch up with us.

So -- if you smoke, don't! I know that it sounds easy for me to say this -- but I kicked a 3 1/2 pack a day habit by "just doing it". You can too!. If your spouse smokes, break her / his fingers (after fair warning). The same for children.

Talk to your friends -- try to keep them alive.

We all have to die -- but we don't have to because of our own stupidity!

Interesting Week

2009-06-28T20:44:00.002-04:00

A week ago tonight, I was at a reception at Marist College, kicking off "ECC 2009" (The Annual Conference of the Enterprise Computing Community. The conference which ran through Tuesday evening focused on large-scale computing, often driven by "mainframe computers" of which IBM's Z Series is, by far, the dominant system. The entire conference was excellent, particularly the keynote speech by IBM Fellow Nick Donofrio,an inspirational talk centered on "Change -- and the need to embrace it". Of particular interest to me in relation to my teaching was the fact that 72% of the people now supporting mainframe computing are of retirement age, a fact that points to job opportunities.

Then it was back to Monroe College for two days of teaching!. My Thursday evening class was with my Senior Seminar Class, the capstone course in our IT program. The students have been building a business, based on development of applications for Google's G1 Operating System, and the development team has been having difficulties due to recent Google OS modifications. Hopefully, after contacting the editors and authors of an O'Reilly technical reference, the problems have been resolved.

Then, Friday, it was off to Northern Westchester Hospital's Ambulatory Surgery Center to have a follow up plastic surgery on my basel cell removal scar. After getting all set with an IV in my arm, the doctor came in and we decided that there was really no need for the surgery as the swelling had gone way down. So it was off to Border's in Mt. Kisco for coffee and poetry books.

On Saturday Morning, it was on-the-go again -- this time a trip with Jim Casey to Rockland County for lunch and a theological roundtable to discuss Gabriel Moran's "Believing in a Revealing God: The Basis of the Christian Life" with the author and others. Then, to the "clubhouse" (my local Barnes and Noble) for coffee and reading, the pet store for litter for the 6 cats who rule our house, and the 5:30 Mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Sunday, it was the newspapers, midterm grading and posting for my six courses, developing of promotional material for the July 18th Book Signing at Coogan's Restaurant in NYC -- with George Hopkins (author of "Blood Brothers" and "Collateral Consequences"), Mary Elizabeth Williams ("Gimme Shelter"), and Don Wortzman ("The Gyroverse" and "Daughters of Ishtar") -- my contributions to the signing are my three poetry collections ("Cashing A Check", "Writing In My Head: Guinan's, God, & Other Things" and "With A Chip On My Shoulder").

So, it's been a busy week -- Oh -- and I read seven of J.D. Robb's "In Death" Series of books; I'm on the fifteenth in the series, "Seduction In Death" (Once I start a mystery series, I try to-run-the-table).

The Complete List
1. Naked in Death (1995)
2. Glory in Death (1995)
3. Immortal in Death (1996)
4. Rapture in Death (1996)
5. Ceremony In Death (1997)
6. Vengeance in Death (1997)
7. Holiday in Death (1998)
8. Midnight in Death (1998) (in Silent Night)
9. Conspiracy in Death (1999)
10. Loyalty in Death (1999)
11. Witness in Death (2000)
12. Judgment in Death (2000)
13. Betrayal in Death (2001)
14. Interlude in Death (2001) (in Out of This World)
15. Seduction in Death (2001)
16. Reunion In Death (2002)
17. Purity in Death (2002)
18. Portrait in Death (2003)
19. Imitation in Death (2003)
20. Remember When (2003)
21. Divided in Death (2004)
22. Visions in Death (2004)
23. Survivor in Death (2005)
24. Origin in Death (2005)
25. Memory in Death (2006)
26. Haunted in Death (2006) (in Bump in the Night)
27. Born in Death (2006)
28. Innocent in Death (2007)
29. Eternity in Death (2007) (in Dead of Night)
30. Creation in Death (2007)
31. Strangers in Death (2008)
32. Ritual in Death (2008) (in Suite 606)
33. Salvation In Death (2008)
34. Promises in Death (2009)
35. Kindred in Death (2009)
36. Missing in Death (2009) (in The Lost)
37. Fantasy in Death (2010)

Book Signing

2009-06-20T09:09:00.004-04:00

I will join ex-IBM engineer Don Wortzman, author of the non-fiction "Gyroverse", a theory of the universe, and the thriller "Daughters of Ishtar"; Salon writer and on-line presence Mary Elizabeth Williams, author of "Gimme Shelter", a memoir of her house hunting in New York City (a journey that eventually led her to my land of origin, Inwood); and novelist George Hopkins, author of the mysteries "Blood Brothers" and "Collateral Consequences" (and, perhaps, some other mystery guests) at Coogan's Restaurant (4015 Broadway in Manhattan -- at 169th Street, next to New York Presbyterian Hospital - 212 928-1234) on Saturday, July 18th at 1:00 PM for short talks and book signings. I hope to see you there.

In anticipation of the event, I have just released my third collection of poetry, a short chapbook entitled "With A Chip On My Shoulder". It follows the earlier "Cashing A Check" and the very recent "Writing In My Head -- Guinan's God, & Other Things"

Sports Fans

2009-06-18T08:52:00.002-04:00

While I'm ranting about things that annoy me -- I love sports and hate most sports "fans"! I'm a New York Fan -- the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders, Devils -- all of them. When they play each other, I want a good close game with great plays and few errors.

I'm not an unknowledgeable sports fan -- I can give you the starting team from the 1927 Yankees, the 1941 Dodgers, the 1948 Boston Braves, the 69 and 73 Knicks, the LA Ram "Fearsome Foursome", etc. I was at the Giants / Colts Overtime Game (I have part of the goalpost); I was in "The Garden" the night Oscar set the college scoring record -- 56 against Seton Hall (and he didn't chuck); I was at the '69 World Series and wound up, uninvited, at the owner's private party when the Mets clinched it; I was at the Nassau Coliseum when Dr. J and the Nets came from 16 down to win their first ABA Championship -- so I've been around -- and I played competitive basketball for 45 years and baseball for 5 (I was much better at basketball).

.. and it drives me crazy to hear callers to New York's WFAN and WEPN talk about "We" when referring to the team they root for -- "we showed them tonight", "we need more pitching", "they can't push us around on the ice", etc. -- Blah. You're not on he field or the ice, dopey -- don't fantasize that you are.

.. and the invective and nastiness -- the Met fans hate the Yankee fans; the Islander fans hate the Ranger fans, etc -- and they call the radio shows to vent their hostility.

Get a life. Enjoy sports for the beauty of the performance, the skill of the athletes, the craftiness of the coaches; memorize statistics; read history -- and, if you can, play the games - but remember, you have a life, a job, family (and, if you don't have these, turn off the FAN and the tube and get them) -- so grow up.

End of rant!

Health Care

2009-06-17T14:26:00.002-04:00

This morning, filling in for Joe Scarborough on his ABC Radio show, Dillan Radigan, host of some CNBC money programs, laid out some of his thoughts on the Health Care debate:

1. The main problem is money; we do not have enough money to provide the type of health care that carries us cradle to grave.
2. The role of the government should be to impose control and regulation, not administration.
3. One regulation he proposes is that every American, from the age of eighteen on MUST purchase catastrophe insurance (he sees the cost at a few hundred dollars a year); a large portion of our health care expenditures presently come from these massive calamities.
4. Someone must bring up "rationing". The largest percentage of health care expenditures is spent during the last twelve months of life and, with constant advances in technology and medicine, we may be able to keep people alive for longer and longer. At some point, Radigan said "someone may have to say 'granny gets one hip, not two' or 'granny gets one eye, not two' etc.". He admits that it's a very hard thing to say and it will be hard to determine who should have the power to say it.

He agreed with callers, I believe, that health insurance should be up to the individual with premiums paid with pre-tax dollars. That makes sense to me -- the implementation would be tough; perhaps employers would have to give employees a one-time raise, based on the amount of the present insurance premium and then get out of the health care business.

I'm sure that there are flaws someplace -- but it made sense to me

Jingoism

2009-06-17T12:53:00.002-04:00

This posting may annoy some folks, including some of my closest friends (if they read this) but that's ok -- because I'm right. I recently received e-mail entitled "Our European Arrogance", showing all the grave sites of the brave American servicemen who gave their lives during World War II. The implication was that the Europeans have a "hellva nerve disagreeing with us after all we have done for them" -- Nonsense! That was then this is now!

I wrote, in response,:
"What did he apologize for? Nothing that negates the great sacrifices that we made in WWII -- but we can't expect other countries to "follow our lead" if they feel that it goes against their national interest -- just as we must be whatever we perceive as our national interest. It doesn't matter if we are right or France is right; each must follow whatever most benefits and protects its citizens. We should have (and did) go into Afghanistan looking for the guy who designed the attack murdering three thousand of our citizens no matter what France or Germany decided to do.

"The Iraq invasion was controversial, to say the least, and each country had to decide whether there was reason today to put its citizens in "harm's way" -- no matter what we did in WWII. We had awful losses in WWII but it should be remembered that, no matter how much we supported the Allies through aid and Lend Lease before Dec. 7, 1941, we entered the way because we were first attacked by Japan and then declared war on by Germany. It is possible that, had Germany not declared war on us, we would not have entered the war against it -- at least, at that time (but we'll never know).

"The world is complex -- in one way, we are moving toward a true Global Economy with a United Europe (for trade) and, possibly at some time in the future, a United North America or even a United America (one again, for trade) and, at the same time, the radical Muslim Worlds is saying "Stop! -- we don't want your iPods or DVD players or your women dressed like sluts - we'll have none of it" -- The Modernists vs the Anti-Modernists and, while we concentrate on this cultural (and sometime military) battle, the Indians and Chinese slip buy and move into economic and educations supremacy -- Please look at "Did You Know?" We (the US) may not have the discipline and the desire to win."

I then added:

"More rant:

Instead of patting ourselves on the back for what we did in WWII (and past) -- all admirable, we should be straightening out a rotten education system (I get to see what the NYC BofE turns out -- I have bright, industrious student who can't write a paper and don't speak properly -- training they should have received in grammar and high school), putting the same emphasis on Science and Technology that JFK/LBJ brought on for the space race (an effort that gave us the Internet, microprocessor, and other break-throughs as well as the actual space related things).

There are new jobs here in all industries, particularly IT, if our employees have the new skills necessary (unfortunately, the laid off auto works can't become web designers and the Wall Street guys can't become network administrators). Before Gates left Microsoft, he said that Microsoft was getting more creative ideas out of its Beijing lab than anyplace else, including Redmond, WA -- we always thing of ourselves as the innovators and the rest of the world as the copiers. Maybe that was true "then" but now its a dogfight -- and we need a more educated and DEDICATED population.

Not only is it OK for the Europeans to forget WWII, we should put it behind us -- we were the World's technology leader (The Atom Bomb and the first working electronic computer (which was completed after the war ended); we were the world's manufacturing leader (it was our mass production of tanks, jeeps, planes, ships, and weapons that won the war; certainly the American fighting man had to be hroic enough to use them but was the manufacturing, "The Arsenal of Democracy", that won the war). -- now we are neither (we are actually #1 in dollar value of manufacturing but that's because of the high ticket electronics; we have lost steel, autos, etc.).

We pat ourselves on the back constantly -- Obama said that his election "proved the Americann Dream"; Jack Kemp was quoted as saying, before he died "What a great country" about the election and Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan, both of whom couldn't be further away from the president politically, said the same thing. Ok -- it's done -- let's go on from here -- look at that video; why should India have more students on the honor roll than we have students; why can't we lead again -- or at least, have a % of honor students that rivals the Indians???

We are going down the tubes competitively and, no matter what we think of the policies of RR, GHWB, BC, GWB, or Barack Obama, the problem is much deeper than that -- we have a rotten educational system, a nation of citizens who don't know or don't understand (Sean Hannity would send folks out to middle American bars; once he found that the majory of folks didn't know what job Al Gore had -- he was VP then; 4 years later, they didn't know who Dick Chaney was.) -- they react to simplistic slogans -- "Buy American" (oh, yeah? You want to spend $40 for your underwear; $75 for the shirt that you're wearing? -- you want to shut off the California tourist industry?). Some folks admitted to voting for John Kerry because he was tall; others voted for GWB because he looked good in a cowboy hat -- hell of a way to pick a president.

"When Bob Taft was "Mr. Conservative" (before Barry Goldwater), his staff wrote long position papers. Ditto for the voice of Liberalism, Adlai Stevenson -- and people read them. When Ronald Reagan gave "the speech" for Barry Goldwater, millions of people watched it (50 minutes) and Reagan's political career was launched. Can you imagine Americans sitting to watch a person not running for office talk for 50 minutes about a candidate? -- not when the most watched shows like "2 and 1/2 Men" deal with jokes about boobs. In the GWB / Kerry election, most of the talk was whether GWB skipped out on the National Guard during the Vietnam War and whether Kerry deserved his medals -- things that happened 30 years before -- what about "What is your plan for tomorrow?" The whole election was a disgrace on both sides.

"Bottom Line -- we can do better -- but we deserve what we get."

After being told that my rants were not germane to the original subject, I said:

"Sure I did -- and I re-stated it below -- but I'll try to be clearer here,

"1. What we did in World War II was for our own interest -- to defeat a lunatic who declared one on us, the day after his buddies sneak-attacked us at Pearl Harbor.
2. A result of us defeating the loony was the liberating of Fraqnce from German occupation.
3. No one can deny that US soldiers fought bravely and many many died on French soil -- but the present government of France owes our present or recent government no more than we owe them for Lafayette -- its duty is to its citizens and only to us if it benefits its citizens.
4. GWB struck most folks as arrogant, whether he meant to or not. Obama said that, while we may have been in the past, we will no longer be. We want to be a partner, where possible. I agree with all that.
5. He also said we were absolutely right in going after the nasties who killed 3,000 of our citizens and that we will continue to do that (in other words, not open to negotiation if anyone doesn't like it). I agree with that too.

"The point that I then made (and made more strongly here) is that the whole history deal is nonsense. It is totally irrelvent to today's problems what we did sixty years ago in a very different climate and world situation -- China was under Chiang; Russia under Stalin -- both our friends and Japan and German were out hated enemies. That game is long over and to get petty about it -- "Remember what we did for you" takes away from our attention to the very real problems of today.

"and then I went off on education and plight we are in compared to the Chinese and Indians."

And that was the end of the discussion there -- but it got me thinking more about what I consider jingoism and false patriotism. We often hear the "proud to be an American" and Michelle Obama was raked over the coals for saying "For the first time, I'm proud to be an American". Why? I'm never "proud to be am American"; we are proud of something that WE have done or, loosely, that Our Family has done. Wikipedia defines Pride in the following manner: Pride is, depending upon context, either a high sense of the worth of one's self or one's own or a pleasure taken in the contemplation of these things. One definition of pride in the first sense comes from Augustine: "the love of one's own excellence." ["Est autem superbia amor proprie excellentie, et fuit initium peccati superbia."] In this sense, the opposite of pride is humility.

So, I'm not proud to be an American; I'm grateful to be an American and consider myself extremely lucky to have been born here. I did nothing to deserve this luck but, because of this accident of fate, I feel that I (and all others who call themselves American) have an obligation to the society -- to do national service, to pay taxes for the benefit of the citizenry, and to do what I can to improve the society through voting, education, political pressure, etc.

I had no relatives at Omaha Beach but I am grateful to those who made the ultimate sacrifice; I look in awe at the wisdom of the Founding Fathers -- Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Madison, Washington and unnamed others -- for the documents and framework that they gave us and the courage they showed in founding this great country. So, once again, I am very grateful but not proud (for I had nothing to do with their actions -- all I can say is "thank them .. and thank God")

If I have any pride in others it would be in my four grandparents, who, separately, left their homes in Ireland to come to the United States, looking for a better life; in my parents -- my father, a tough New York City cop who put his life on the line daily and my mother who became a single parent upon his untimely and accidental death when I was eleven; my brother, who impacted thousands of lives in his thirty years as a professor; my incredible wife, whose countless contributions amaze me; my children, who have become successful and happy in their chosen fields; and my own accomplishments, particularly those in education where I have been told "You've changed my life". In a narrower sense, it's only my own actions that I can take pride in -- I'm grateful for the actions of grandparents. parents, and wife and happy for the success of my children .. and, once again, I'm grateful that I had the luck to be born an American"

Two Tuesdays

2009-06-17T08:11:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago yesterday, I had an accident on my motor scooter -- very little injury but the scabs on my knees still haven't healed and, yesterday, I had a problem with my car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, that caused it to be carried on a flatbed fifty-one (51) miles from the garage near Monroe College to my service station in Jefferson Valley, NY. Preliminary analysis (mine -- and what do I know) is either overheating with anti-freeze exploding or a burned out engine with oil on the ground).

Either (and who knows if either is the correct diagnosis) would be expensive but a radiator problem would be far less than an engine one -- and this comes two weeks after the nineteen hundred dollar ($1,900) hit to the scooter (mostly covered by insurance). Additionally, the scooter is still weeks away from being returned and who knows about the jeep.

It would be easy to feel sorry for myself had I not found out yesterday bout the death of an old, though not close, friend (a few years younger than me) and the grave illness of another old friend, one who had lost his voice box a few years ago -- he now faces lymphoma, is unable to speak, and waits for a bone marrow transplant.

I, on the other hand, walked away from a scary accident and lived to face another Tuesday problem -- life ain't all that bad!

Recent Editorials from Web 2.0 The Magazine

2009-06-16T14:14:00.003-04:00

The following are my most two recent editorials from Web 2.0 The Magazine:

Editorial
By John F. McMullen

Life in the Digital World goes on for your editor as well as, hopefully, the readers of this magazine. In the last year, I have started a Social Network for those from my old neighborhood (Inwood, Manhattan, New York City, New York State, US) and watched it grow from two members to one thousand thirty-six (1,036) with two thousand four hundred six (2,406) photos posted (as of 05/25/09); published an “on-demand” collection of poetry, “Cashing A Check” (available in both soft cover and Kindle formats on Amazon); read over a hundred books on my Kindle and Kindle 2; tested many “apps” for my iPhone and G1; and begun this publication. In short, it’s been a busy time.

Yet, it has been a enjoyable, if hectic, time – there is always something new; a new device (such as my watch-camera-phone-mp3 player), new web services (such as the many and varied Twitter add-ons), new “apps” (such as “Glympse”, mentioned elsewhere in this issue); in short, constant change! – and keeping up with the changes is not only challenging; it is exhilarating!

We must understand that this “Keeping up” is a societal problem with which we must deal. In addition to changing our methods of production and information distribution (see the feature on Newspapers and Magazines elsewhere in this issue) – changes that both put many, many out of work and create new technology opportunities – it creates generation conflict that we must deal with. Those growing up with “new technologies” (computers, cell phones, etc.) in their environment simply accept them and use them while those who are already mature when the technologies arrive must “learn them” (and many had difficulties with word processing and spreadsheets) and they MUST learn them to remain useful and employable. As change continues to accelerate, the need to constantly adapt brings more and more pressure.

It is not only “doing things faster and more efficiently”, it is “doing things differently and better” (years ago, in her wonderful book, “Release 2.0” (and its successor, “Release 2.1”), Esther Dyson, opined “the Internet will not only allow us to do things better; it will allow us to do better things”; she has certainly been prescient). One of my main concerns in this area is that it seems to me that we have not shown that, today in the United States, we have the understanding of this paradigm shift nor the will to deal with it that is evidenced by our Chinese competitors.
Unless we show both the will and the educational commitment to meet these challenges, I fear that those who bemoan the “End of the American Century” are right on – and that will be a shame.
----------------------------------------

Editorial
By John F. McMullen

Random Notes:
• The reaction to the Iranian election and the lack of diplomatic contact between the US and Iran has brought Web 2.0 technology closer to the mainstream as we have come to depend on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. This dependence has become so important that the State Department has asked Twitter to forgo scheduled maintenance to keep the pipes open. Other reports on the importance of Twitter at this time have come from The Atlantic, The Nation, and the Daily Beast. It reminds me of earlier times when the best reports from disaster areas came through short-wave radio.
• I’ve recently begun to offer my blog, “johnmac’s rants”, on the Kindle at the cost of $1.99 per month. Why anyone would want to pay for a blog that is free online and accessible through a desktop, laptop, netbook, or smart phone is, quite frankly, beyond me but it costs nothing for the blogger to set up the RSS feed (Feedburner is a very easy tool for this) or for the service itself – so we’ll see!
• I’ve used CreateSpace, a subsidiary of Amazon’s, to put my second collection of poetry, “Writing In My Head – Guinan’s, God, & Other Things” on line (it joins the first collection, “Cashing A Check” online). I found the tools at CreateSpace very easy to use and recommend its use.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Graduation Day

2009-06-13T09:24:00.002-04:00

I spent yesterday at Madison Square Garden yesterday, attending Monroe College's 2009 Graduation. All in all, we graduated 3,003 students from our various programs (Associate, Bachelor, MBA) on three campuses (Bronx, NY; New Rochelle, NY; and St. Lucia). It was, as always, a rewarding experience for me. I saw some former students of mine receiving MBAs (one had also, in the same time frame, become a Microsoft Certified Game Developer and has two X-Box games about to be released) as well as current graduates about to enter Masters programs at John Jay in Forensic Computing and Pace University and Boston College in MIS. Other talked about the jobs that they had begun; jobs that they would not have been considered for had they not had a diploma.

The night before graduation, I attended a "Graduation Gala" for those Bronx Campus students receiving Bachelor Degrees -- over 400 attended. This is a dinner with awards and dancing totally paid for by the college; this is the only such college-paid for reward dinner that I'm aware of, at least in the New York Metropolitan Area (and Barbara and I have taught at many of them).

It is days and nights like this that make the Monroe teaching experience wonderful -- we change lives -- students have told me, matter-of-factly, "You have changed my life and raised my aspirations". Although Monroe is staffed with wonderful people to work with and has a hands-on committed president, it is, at times, a difficult and demanding place at which to work (ex. Full-time professors much teach six courses per semester rather than the four at most schools; final grades are due the last day of the semester rather than a few weeks later as in most colleges -- there is a good reason for this; we are on a full tri-semester schedule with very little break in the winter and spring and students failing courses must have their schedules re-adjusted immediately). It is the work that we do for students that more than tips the balance; work that could not be accomplished without the real dedication to students by our administration led by president Stephen Jerome (nephew and son of the two 1933 founders of Monroe).

The graduation festivities came in a week that I also released my second collection of poetry, "Writing In My Head -- Guinan's, God, and Other Things" for publication. The first collection, "Cashing A Check" was recently re-edited amd remains available -- the title poem won third prize in The Writer's Place 2009 National Poetry Contest (so as long as folks keep encouraging me, I'll keep writing; a short "chapbook", "With A Chip On My Shoulder" is next). Note: In addition to the links provided here, both are also available on Amazon (the ones provided here result in a slightly higher author royalty).

Luck

2009-06-08T13:23:00.004-04:00

It has been pointed out by a number of folks that I was extremely lucky to receive only minor injury (and damage to my motorscooter) in the recent accident in which I was hit by a car at the top of an entrance ramp on New York's Sprain Brook Parkway. These folks are, of course, correct -- I was very lucky.

The mention of "luck" caused me to reflect on the role of luck (or fate) in my life. I have been generally lucky -- perhaps "blessed" would be a better word. I was born in America to loving parents -- although my father died when I was eleven, I had a good childhood and have been very fortunate to have formed lifetime friendships. I have always had work that I enjoyed -- computer programming, management of Information Technology departments, journalism, writing for publication, consulting, teaching, and now poetry; I have been married, first for 14 years, to a terrific person and, then, to a wonderful woman, the love of my life, Barbara McMullen, for the last 31 years. I have been blessed with terrific and successful children and Barbara and I are generally good health (I have lost friends to cancer and accident). So generally, I havd been lucky.

There have, in the course, of my life, been three specific instances, all involving automobiles, that would certainly be classified as extreme luck:

1. When I was 15, I accompanied a close friend, the late Bob Cummings and his father to Lake Ronkonkoma, where they had a summer home to bring some things back to our NYC neighborhood. During the day, Mr. Cummings became ill and called a doctor in NYC to explain his problems; the doctor said that he would stay in his office until 5:30PM in the event that Mr. Cummings could be there by then. Mr. Cumminigs got us in the car and drove at very high speeds for over an hour to get to the doctor's office. The doctor examined him, gave him a prescription, and sent him (and us) on our way. After a ride of about 20 minutes to our neighborhood, Mr. Cummings parked the car, let us out, and died before he made it up to his apartment. It was terrible for Bob and his family (a mother, brother, and a sister) but would have been much worse for Bob and I had he died an our earlier when we were going 70 on the Northern State Parkway.

2. In 2003, a large truck ran a stop sign on a hill, smacked into the side of my Lincoln, knocking it 10-15 feet up on a curb. The truck then took off, a "hit and run", leaving me trapped in the car (the engine went off on impact and the electric door locks were inoperable). Firemen told me later that I was very lucky that the car didn't burst into flames when the gas tank went up on the curb. I got out of the car -- which was totaled -- and walked away uninjured (the truck driver was never caught)

3. Last Tuesday, June 2, 2009, I had the motor scooter accident described above and walked away with skinned knees, torn pants, and $1,700 of damage to my wonderful "Black Beauty" (a Honda 259cc Helix -- Barbara has a canary yellow one) -- once again, very lucky.

So, that's three near-misses -- and I ask "why?" Why was I so lucky when Bill McLoughlin was killed in a motor accident? is there a plan? What, if anything, must I do to justify my continued existence? Heavy stuff.

Writing, Writing, and More Writing

2009-06-08T00:46:00.002-04:00

As those who read this blog know, my writing here as been occasional, to say the least, in recent months. During that time, I launched a social network for natives of my old neighborhood, launched an on-line magazine, "Web 2.0 The Magazine" with Barbara E. McMullen (the same last name is not a coincidence; she's my wife) and Stan Veit, my old editor from Computer Shopper, published two books of poetry, "Cashing A Check" and "Guinan's, God, and Other Things", and continued to teach full time at Monroe College (six courses is full time),.

I have, however, tonight made a commitment to publish more here as this blog will now be available for subscription on a Kindle -- I must therefore give folks something interesting regularly -- and I shall!

BEA 2009

2009-06-01T14:22:00.004-04:00

Barbara, Don Wortzman, and I attended BookAmerica Expo last week (Don got to three days; Barbara and I could only do the Friday one). We saw many interstesting exhibits, learned a lot about "publishing on demand", attended interesting talks (including one by Erik Qualman. author of "Socialnomics" (there will be commentary on Qualman's presentation and book in upcoming issues of Web 2.0 The Magazine.

One thing that I did find out which directly relates to my collection of poetry, "Cashing A Check", is that sales through CreateSpace bring a higher royalty to the poet (me) than those through Amazon ( psst-- that's a hint)

Justify Twitter?

2009-05-28T20:05:00.002-04:00

A friend recently asked me to both explain and justify the value of "Twitter" --- and I really can’t; not because I don’t find it very useful (I do) but because it is both one of the most difficult tools to explain of all the social networking tools (which are all difficult to explain) and because the value is extremely subjective and grows only, in my judgment, through extensive use. Some points to consider:

1. As mentioned above, it is very difficult to convey “the flavor of Twitter” through words. There must be immersion to really try it out and appreciate the value (or lack thereof) for the individual.

2. Once involved, the use of tools to simplify the process of posting, to aggregate “tweets” for e-mail delivery, for GPS locations, searches, etc. are worth exploring.

3. The real value is in the interest that the user had in the postings of those she / he chooses to “follow”. One may be interesting to one person may be boring or trivial to another. I tend to follow writers, newsfolks, technologists, friends (and “friends of friends” and “friends of friends of friends”). You always drop people from your list and, once again, you do not have to follow folks who follow you (nor visa versa). I also tend to concentrate less on the social interaction contained within Twitter than on the information which I can glean from others.

In short, the only way to see its use is to use it.

A Storyteller Entralls Me

2009-03-23T12:56:00.003-04:00

I just finished "Tipperary" and "Ireland" by Frank Delaney and each book was a "can't put it down". Each book dealt with Ireland and the manner in which in history, fact blends with interpretation and, in some cases, with myth.

Ireland deals with a "storyteller" who travels by foot through Ireland for over 40 years, earing his keep by telling stories and the distant and recent past. Tipperary, on the other hand deals primarily with Charles O'Brien, a healer and land owner, and his obsession with a woman. We read O'Brien's diary, meeting Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Michael Collins, and Charles Parnell (Yeats, Collins, and Parnell also appear in "Ireland")as well as fictional characters. We, in the late 20th century, are reading O'Brien's diary, written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We also have commentary by the finder of the diary who provides historical perspective sand fills in what O'Brien chose to leave out.

Both books are just plain wonderful -- and Delaney's "Shannon" is now waiting on my Kindle.

.. and the Internet God so loved Elizabeth Johnson

2009-03-18T20:29:00.001-04:00

From a forthcoming issue of Web 2 The Magazine

.. and the Internet God so loved Elizabeth Johnson
By John F. McMullen

I read a lot – more than the total inhabitants of many small towns – fiction and non-fiction … and my tastes run a wide gamut – technology, science, theology, politics, biography, history,. poetry, graphic novels, mysteries, science fiction, and whatever else one might think of. My acquisition of reading material took me to Amazon early in its existence and I have been a faithful customer since (in fact, I think I may be one of its largest individual customers – my purchase have included books to electronics to accessories and finally to the Kindle and, more recently, the Kindle 2.). I have always been very happy with Amazon’s service – its selection, delivery, and return policies.

Then one day about three weeks ago, Amazon, based on my many-year buying pattern, recommended “Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God “ by Fordham University professor Elizabeth A. Johnson. Dr. Johnson’s book had very good reviews, including the following from America Magazine: “It is rare that one finds a book that will appeal to all sorts of audiences, but Quest for the Living God is one. Professional theologians, undergraduate students and literate people of faith will enjoy all that this engaging work has to offer.", so I ordered it.

It came a few days later. A few days later, another copy came. My immediate reaction was that I must have mistakenly ordered it twice so I planned to send it back the next week – Amazon has a very good return policy for stupid mistakes!

My analysis broke down when the third copy arrived the next day. I called customer service and was connected to a nice young lady in the Philippines who determined that I must have been hitting “Buy with 1-Click” over and over. She said “Don’t worry. I’ll disable “Buy with 1-Click” and you can return the books.” I assured her that I knew how to use “Buy with 1-Click” (I had used it many too many times in the past), did not want it disabled, and wanted to put the books into 1 box with 1 shipping label to return them. I convinced her not to disable the feature but she said that, since the books had been opened and were separate orders, they must be sent back separately and that she would send me 2 labels. I reluctantly agreed.

All bets came off the next day, however, when four – 4! – more copies arrived. I also received e-mail confirmation of another order which I cancelled. Then a new wrinkle developed. I began to get duplicate copies of “The Watchmen”, usually in the same box as the Johnson book – I guess there is a link, The Watchmen is, after all, a morality play.

Of course, every processed order was hitting my credit card and the never-ending arrivals would soon drive me into bankruptcy. Frustrated, I played the “writer’s card” and called Amazon Press Relations and leaving a message that Amazon, Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God , and I were about to become the subject of a piece in ”Web 2.0 The Magazine”. Since that call, I have gotten excellent response – but the problem remains; I have refused 4 deliveries at the post office, have cancelled 6 orders, and have received 9 copies of the book. Amazon has cancelled tow orders, turned off 1-Click, taken my credit card off-line, and suspended my account for a few days – all to no avail – an order passed through my account while it was closed. Since the account has been revived, I have refused 2 deliveries and been notified that another is on the way. Amazon has mitigated the stress somewhat by backing out all the charges.

An interesting aspect of the problem is that other orders, such as one for my friend Don Wortzman’s novel, “Daughters of Ishtar: Theology and Science in an Escapade of Intrigue” do not duplicate. The fact that it is unique to the Johnson book (and its cousin, the Watchman) leads me to believe that an Internet Deity is at work. Perhaps God was so taken with Elizabeth Johnson’ analysis of Her / His essence that He / She tampered with the Amazon recommendation process and then began to spew out orders, knowing quite well that they would be returned – but building up the circulation numbers in the meantime.

There are many theories that “God” is a supreme computational machine or using a computer as an analog for “God”. With the advent of “Web 2.0”, a system based on “user input”, who is to say that God might not be the ultimate super-user.

Well, that’s today’s theory anyhow – and it might as well stand until Amazon fixes the goddamn problem.

Copyright 2009 John F. McMullen

Cashing A Check -- My Collection of Poems

2009-02-22T01:28:00.002-05:00

"Cashing A Check" is my first collection of poetry. It is available in soft cover and Kindle form at Amazon (search on Cashing A Check) and in PDF format at Lulu. I have previously written only non-fiction dealing with technology and its impact on society (a book, contributions to anthologies, magazines, newspapers and online news service).

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George Hopkins is an old friend from college days (whom I haven't seen in over 40 years). He is a retired teacher and is the author of the mysteries, "Blood Brothers" and the soon-to-be-published "Collateral Consequences". George mentions getting the book from Lulu.com. I personally like the 6X9 format available on Amazon (do a search on "Cashing A Check". My favorable comments on his comments on his first book were not based on friendship but rather on my view as a critical reader -- I trust that he took the same objectivity for he made my eyes light up and head swell (for only a few moments)

Dear John,

I really enjoyed Cashing the Check. It arrived from LuLu,com) on Saturday and I had to pry it away from my wife Diane who also loved it.

Your writing is clear, the images strong and familiar, and every poem has a message that hits home. I'd have a hard time picking my favorite – there were so many of them. As I read your poetry I was struck with your ability to touch my soul and to have me nodding in agreement so often. My only question is – Why did you wait so long to share your poetry with others?

Thank you for the memories, the thoughts, and the feelings your poems stirred in me. At times you had me smiling, laughing, and almost crying (for an Irish guy from the Bronx that's a big deal!). Your poetry illustrates what I call the mystical, magical power of poetry. Reading about pick-up basketball games in the Bronx, your brother, nursing homes, drinking, and books, I related closely. Your reflections on marking papers brought back a lot of personal memories and, although the message was somewhat different, it reminded me of one of Billy Collins' poems about trying to teach poetry to his students. Indeed, your writing reminds me of Billy Collins' in a number of ways. Since I like his poetry and he was one of our Poet Laureates, I think that's a pretty good endorsement of your writing.

I always admired your brother and can still remember the friendly "rivalry" between him and Bro. Egan. The two of them almost influenced me into trying to become an Irish Christian Brother, but four children and eight grandchildren later, it's obvious I chickened out.

Thanks again, John. I'm having a sequel to my first book published in a few weeks. It's called Collateral Consequences and it's another mystery/suspense novel involving some of the same characters from Blood Brothers. There are a number of surprises in the new book. Maybe one day it will find a way into "one of those f---ing books that own" you. I doubt it will every "own" anyone and I am fairly confident it won't make me rich, but I hope readers like it and get something out of it.

As I initially wrote this on scrap paper sitting on the table in my cardiologist's office, I recalled one of y our lines and have to agree with you – we are a funny people. Maybe my wife put it best when, after reading "Cashing the Check," she said, "The proof is in the people."

Keep writing and thank you. What was it Thorton Wilder said in "Our Town" when Emily asks the Stage Manager if anyone who really appreciates life. His answer was, "The Saints and the Poets maybe." Your have a gift here, John, please keep writing.

Sincerely,
George Hopkins

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I asked George whether I might use his comments to send out for promotion puroses and he replied:
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Please do, John. I appreciate the kind words you said about Blood Brothers.

I am sincere about my praise of your writing. Seriously, keep it up. For the past ten years I have held a Senior Poetry Contest and Festival on Staten Island. It draws some interesting poems. This year's winner was a 93 year old woman who had never written a poem before. Whatever the quality of the poems may be, they are all from the heart and I publish them in a little book for each of the poets so they become "published poets." Hopefully, if we have it again this year, you will submit up to two of your poems.

Good luck with the book and your "new career."

George

An Open Letter to AT&T, the FCC, and the Immediate World

2009-02-01T17:22:00.004-05:00

Randall L. Stephenson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
AT&T Inc.
175 E. Houston St.
San Antonio, TX 78205
Dear Mr. Stephenson:

I am an AT&T iPhone customer on a monthly pay plan which, at least in my case, I regard as total thievery. I have a monthly deduction from my debit card of approximately $99.00 which then accumulates in my AT&T account to be charged against my telephone usage. As my usage is not great, the amount accumulates in the account from month-to-month which, even though you have the use of my money, is generally fine with me.

Approximately a year and a half ago, I did not update my debit card information and the automatic debit “bounced”. I didn’t realize this until my service was cut off (I was told that I had been sent a “text message” giving me 24 hours to rectify the situation; I don’t use text messages). When I called customer service, I was told that my account had been cancelled and that I would have to re-set up the account. I pointed out that my balance was over $200, much more than the deduction, and could have been used to cover the charge but was told that “it doesn’t work that way – the account is cancelled if the monthly deduction can’t be processed”. I was also told that I would lose the excess of $200 balance because “this is a new account”. I, of course, complained but was told “this is our policy”. I decided to just move forward and did not challenge the procedure further.

When the IPhone II came out, I found that I could only upgrade to it if I moved my telephone plan from the monthly debit plan to one of the credit card plans – but I was told that I would lose my balance of over $250 if I did because “we cannot apply that balance to another plan” – so, I forgot about the IPhone II and just continued on.

Since my balance continued to accumulate – it is now over $490 – I recently decided to move to a lower monthly plan – but was told that I would only have less than 10 days to reduce my balance to a maximum of $250, an impossible task based on my phone usage – so, once again, I decided to continue as is.

Now I am receiving text messages saying that I am approaching my maximum balance (I was never aware there was any maximum balance – after all, you have the interest-free use of my money) -- which I assume is $500 -- and that I would not be credited above that but that you will continue to deduct the same amount monthly, In other words, you will take my money and give me absolutely nothing in return, not even credit that might be used if my usage had to increase due to an emergency. This is just plain robbery and I am asking those copied on this communication to look into this procedure. I also plan to use every possible method to publicize this problem in the event others are equally troubled by it.

I would be willing to move to the iPhone II and / or another plan if I do not lose the balance that I have accumulated or, in a worst case, stay as I am as long as any money taken from me is available for my use.

I hope to hear from you as rapidly as possible.

Yours truly,

John F. McMullen
jfm / mac

cc: Commissioner Michael J. Copps, Federal Communications Commission
Hon. Jaclyn A. Brilling, Secretary to the NYS Public Service Commission
Congressman John Hall
Hon. Andrew M. Cuomo, NYS Attorney General
Mr. Jeff Jarvis

(Note: Jeff Jarvis is the author of "What Would Google Do?")

Tough -- But Exhillerating -- Six Months

2009-01-23T00:03:00.007-05:00

It's been a long six months since late last June. About that time, Barbara McMullen lost her job as Dean of Online Learning at Monroe College, a position that she had held for 19 months. Barbara left Marist College, a place that she had called home off-on-on for about fifteen (15) years, to join me at Monroe where I have been a Professor of Information Technology for thirteen (13) years. Unfortunately, what seemed like a good idea at the time turned out not-to-be and the position turned out to be a poor fit for Barbara, one of the most talented persons I have ever worked with.

In addition to the shock, the loss of position created a severe financial hit for the McMullen household. Using her resourcefulness, Barbara jumped right back into the educational marketplace and obtained adjunct positions at Westchester Community College and Iona College, my Alma Mater. While the remuneration is nowhere near her previous salary, the work is enjoyable and allows her to direct her entrepreneurial skills in other directions.

One of those directions has been the launching of a Web-based magazine, "Web 2.0 The Magazine", dealing with the impact that the new user-focused technologies have had on the business, social, educational, and recreational aspects of our lives, impact that has generally gone "under the radar".

Together with our years-ago Editor at Computer Shopper, Stan Veit, we launched the magazine in January 2009 as a Monthly with Weekly Updates. As Editor-in-Chief, Barbara has borne much of the brunt of the run-up and launch, taking charge of not only the setting of tone and article gathering but also the design and production of the publication.

During the same time period, our pet hawk, "Flyer" who had adopted us when injured the previous August, passed away. He was hand-fed raw meat twice a day for 17 months and was a revered member of the McMullen family.

Along the way, we also developed Social Networks for Hudson Valley Wine Country; my old neighborhood, Inwood; and our local Catholic Parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Barbara became more active in parish work joining the Parish Development Committee (the committee charged with attempting to bring some financial stability to the parish).

In the same period, I sent a two-year old poem to a discussion group and, when Jackie Wolf Birch, a long-time friend and member of the group, asked if I had any more poems and, if so, had I attempted to publish them, I put approximately forty (40) of them into an anthology, "Cashing A Check" and offered it for sale in printed and .pdf download format and as an e-book for the Kindle. The poem publication was done for two purposes -- to gather experience in the area of self-publication so that I might write about the process and as a test ro see whether it would be a viable commercial platform for my someday-to-be-hopefully-finished novel.

While all of the above activities are extremely enjoyable and may bear fruit in the future, they do not "pay-the-rent" in the present; the rent (actually the mortgage) and other expenses are paid through Barbara's adjuncting and my full-time teaching at Monroe (seven courses last semester and six this one). We are both blessed in that we thoroughly enjoy what we do; my teaching and the impact that I have on students brings me the greatest satisfaction of any position that I ever had.

--- but it has been tiring for both of us --